Performance Therapy — Leg

Because the hamstrings have their origin at the sitting bones - Long periods of sitting may affect their function We rely on our hamstring muscles for walking, jogging, running and jumping. These are the workhorse muscles that enable us to flex our knees and extend our hips at the beginning of each step that we take. When we are walking, jogging or running, our hamstrings are antagonists to the quadriceps muscles in the action of deceleration of knee extension. Anatomy The hamstrings consist of three muscles. From medial to lateral they are the semimembranosus, semitendinosus, and biceps femoris. Origin Ischial...

Technique Stand upright and place one foot in front of the other. Bend your front leg and keep your back leg straight. Push your heel to the ground and lean forward. Place your hands on the ground in front of you. Make sure the toes of your back leg are facing forward. Letting your toes point to one side will cause this stretch to put uneven tension on the calf muscles. Over an extended period of time, this could lead to a muscle imbalance. Muscles being stretched Primary muscle: Gastrocnemius.Secondary muscles: Tibialis posterior, flexor hallucis longus, flexor digitorum longus, peroneus...

Trigger points in the quadriceps muscles are commonly the cause of hip, thigh and knee pain The quadriceps is a large group of muscles, the most massive of the leg, located in the anterior (front) of the thigh. They originate from above the hip joint and extend to below the knee. The primary action of the quadriceps is to extend the knee joint, but in conjunction with a number of other muscles in the front of the hip, they are also associated with hip flexion. Rectus femoris is part of the quadriceps femoris, which also includes the vasti group: vastus...