Best Hamstring Exercises | Hamstring Injury Rehab | Physiotherapy
Best Hamstring Exercises | Hamstring Injury Rehab | Physiotherapy
In elite sports, lots of research is done on hamstring injury prevention and rehab. It appears as if the Nordic hamstring curl is the holy grail of hamstring exercises but we wondered if there is more to regional muscle use during hamstring strengthening, especially considering that there are four muscle bellies: The semimembranosus and semitendinosus as well as a long and a short head of the biceps femoris. Research by Mendez-Villanueva et al. (2016) examined which hamstring exercises result in the best site-specific muscle use.
What they found is that the flywheel curl and to a lesser extent the Nordic hamstring curl target the short head of the biceps femoris, Whereas the hip-extension conic pulley promoted the selective use of proximal regions of the long head of the biceps femoris, while minimizing activity in the other muscles.
So for general hamstring strengthening or focus on biceps femoris short head and semitendinosus and membranosus, the flywheel leg curl and Nordic hamstring curl are excellent exercises, with the Russian belt exercise as an addon. For more specific targeting of the proximal biceps femoris long head, you may want to opt for the hip extension conic pulley.
So let’s look at the four exercises:
While the Nordic Hamstring Curl is a great exercise, it can be hard to perform this exercise on your own. If you are curious about variations of this exercise, check them out here.
Furthermore, all of these exercises are great at a later stage of rehab or for hamstring injury prevention. If you have just suffered a hamstring injury, we recommend applying the Askling protocol.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR TO PREVENT HAMSTRING, CALF & QUADRICEPS INJURIES
References
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- Gustav Hübinette30/01/24The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries REVIEW OF THE BIG 3
I experienced the course as very well-structured, maintaining a clear thread throughout the entire program. The content is clearly based on updated evidence, providing numerous valuable tips and tricks for implementing rehabilitation of THE BIG 3.
What I had wished for to be different is to include more recorded lectures, as there is currently a considerable amount of test-based information.Yoran Deleu30/12/23The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries Well structured course from the theoretical background to clear practical exercises needed for rehabilitation!Adam Stewart14/11/23The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries VERY THOROUGH AND EXCELLENT JOB USING EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE
Enda does a great job with this course and dives into as much detail as you would like throughout. Excellent job of keeping the most up-to-date information in the presentation. Takes time to get through it all, but very worth it - Olivier Gouvernet11/10/23The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries BIG §
The course is very well structured, the anatomical reminders are relevant, each stage of rehabilitation is well detailed and the videos of the exercises make it easy to see and understand what needs to be monitored and done.
In my opinion, the last phases of rehabilitation are the most interesting, as they are rarely covered. This helps to reduce the gap between the load at the end of treatment and the load of a return to sport.Jeremy Beyer05/09/23The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries An excellent course on the rehabilitation and management of lower extremity muscle & tendon injuries! Enda covers serious range in this course with lessons on muscle & tendon physiology all the way to late stage rehab and discussions around power & reactive strength development. This course is comprehensive and covers many of the overlooked aspects of muscle and tendon rehab. Enda highlights foundational rehabilitation concepts in an easy to digest manner that is guaranteed to influence the way you practice.Beppeke Molenaar04/05/23The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries EXCELLENT COURSE, INCREDIBLY KNOWLEDGEABLE
This is a fantastic course, with loads of information that is very applicable to daily practice.
I think this course has offered me the most in terms of learning and professional development out of all the courses I’ve done so far.
The set-up of the course is really well-structured. The videos are clear, the information in the text is evidence-based, very in-depth, and at the end of each unit, you can find further readings for anyone who wants to dive even deeper into the material.
I would highly recommend this course! - Badrinath31/03/23The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries The presentation is quite evidence based and evidence informed. It is presented in a structured manner. The author has put lots of effort. It is an application based course.Frederik Adriaensens30/12/22The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries VERY NICE OVERVIEW OF ALL THE INFLUENCIAL MECHANICS AND REHAB OPTIONS
Thanks for the excellent refresher!Aemy den Hollander04/05/22The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries AWESOME
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Not the regular elearning i was used to. love this! - Nicolo16/01/22The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries USEFUL AND INSPIRING
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If you really can learn all the notions , you’ll be a better physiotherapist for sure.Zico Verhaegen01/01/22The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries GREAT COURSE
As a recently graduated physiotherapist working with athletes regularly, this course helped me a lot from assessing to building a rehab program for every individual.Lynn26/12/21The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries Really good course. Much better understanding in Pathomechanics, risk factors and management of rehabilitation. - Conall27/10/21The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries EXCELLENT, PRACTICAL AND BACKED WITH INNOVATIVE METHODS FOR INJURY PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION
This course was excellent at breaking down the rehabilitation process of the big 3 (Quadriceps, Hamstrings and lower leg injuries). The content is very practical and applicable to advance your methods of rehabilitation and also to to develop robust methods for injury prevention and building resilience with your athletes. I particularly liked the progression of rehab shown from the acute stage right through to the return to training and performance phase. The exercises and rehab techniques highlight the importance of building structural strength and their progression and integration into more dynamic exercises as they relate to the phases of gait, running cycle and specific movement patterns in multiple planes . All material is supported with evidence based research, a list of further references and practical video demonstrations for you to practice.Paul Scurfield27/08/21The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries BRILLIANT COURSE
This course was one of the best professional development courses I have ever been involved in.
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I would recommend this course to anyone who works in rehabilitation.Simone Ondoso21/06/21The Big 3 - Advanced Rehabilitation of Hamstring, Quadriceps, and Calf Muscle- and Tendon Injuries very nice course!