“Waarom heb ik korte hamstrings?” wordt wel eens gevraagd in de les.

Hieronder de meest voorkomende mogelijke oorzaken die voor jou van toepassingz zouden kunnen zijn (tekst voor groot deel in het Engels, met dank aan mijn collega’s all over the world, UK, NL, Singapore, Australie.).

Mocht je iets niet snappen, feel free to contact me (yoga@oliviasomer.com)

“”Lots of sitting and cycling can do it… I cycle a lot and used to have very tight hamstrings, but yoga (especially forward bends) has helped me so that this is no longer a problem”".

“”Hyperextension of the knees will cause the hamstrings & calf muscles to tighten up, need to strengthen the quads..”".

“”I have read that as we in the west spend a lot of time sitting in chairs this shortens the hams as they are underused…and cycling definately shortens them…”"

“”The first reason is that for people who grew quickly through their teenage years (often tall people, and especially males who have a sudden growthspurt around 14-16) the thigh bone literally grows faster than the hamstring muscle can keep up with, so the hamstring muscle shortens comparatively. Either they then exercise gently and regularly over a period of time to persuade the hamstring to lengthen to match, or more commonly their posture and movements are modified to accommodate the shorter hamstrings, so they don’t get a chance to catch up.

The second reason is postural – where the top of the pelvis is habitually tipped backwards to give a flatter back, especially when sitting (just check out any teenager in a sofa), the hamstrings don’t get a regular stretch, and shorten through disuse as a result. This posture is also devastating (verwoesten)  to core stability (houdingspieren) strength – when the pelvis is not held vertically when standing or sitting, the nerve receptors that lead to stimulation of the core stability muscles wrongly assume the body is lying down, and so the core stability muscles are not needed and switch off!! Progressively strengthen core stability muscles by maintaining a vertical pelvis and nice supported curve in the lower back when sitting, with the spine balancing vertically on top”.

Hoe krijg ik mijn hamstrings in betere conditie :

- Denk aan je core stability: dat wil zeggen, goede houding, bekken in de juiste positie en je houdingspieren in goed gebruik/de juiste aanspanning.

- Hamstring stretch lying on your back with one knee bent, and draw the other straight leg overhead, with a sash (or take hold of trouser leg) if can’t reach the calf.

- Benen tegen de muur, Legs up the wall. (Viparita Karani), secret here is to bring the bottom closer and closer to the wall, and relax the pelvis flat to the floor (make sure the sacrum is flat against the ground) while keeping the legs reasonably straight (knees off the lock of course!)

- Zittende Voorwaarste buiging (Paschimottanasa) (sitting forward bend)-

-  Vredes houding, dit is de voorwaarste buiging, vanuit de heupen.Benen gestrekt maar knieën zacht.  Laat de zwaarte kracht het werk doen. Pas op voor een te veel gebogen bovenrug.

-  De Kraanvogel.

Tot zover heb ik geen psycho somatische oorzaken als oorzaak van korte hamstring kunnen vinden..