Split like a bananna.

Check the antlers, dude! Clearly a manmoose!

Dan, the thing that seems weird to me is that if I bend my knee very slightly, I can suddenly touch the floor easily with no pain or even feeling of stretching in my hamstrings, but the second I straighten my legs just that fraction of an inch, I still don't feel it in the hamstrings but in the backs of the knees.

I think I just have rubbish tendons to be honest (probably because I'm tall and long in the leg, I guess). Do you know of any way of improving that situation? Is it just a matter of working on strengthing and increasing flexibility in the muscles so that the tendons don't take on the tension in the stretch?

 

Possibly short sciatic nerve?

A musculoskeletal physio should be able to tell you what the problem is with just a few seconds of manipulation.

 

Now I'm well and truly flummoxed!

I have really tight hamstrings, so I give them a damn good stretch after running (or a lot of walking) and then they feel grrrreat. And my range of movement in the stretch has improved ginormously over the last few months.

So am I not actually doing what I think I'm doing?

 

I'm assuming you're doing the classic forward bend/toe touch here.

Are you keeping your low back straight and creasing from the hips?

I think it's wise to hold off recommeding any sort of training plan until we first make sure you're not stretching in less than an optimal position. It could be one of several things.

 

When you stretch your hamstrings, where do you feel it?

 

In the back of my leg, a few inches above the knee and slightly to the right. It's that long 'twangy' bit which feels like a cable. I assumed that was the tendon. Is it actually a muscle?

 

Here?

 

I'm not sure. I haven't seen my leg without the skin on! It's the bit that sticks out the most. (Or at least it does on me.)

You've got the thin bone at the back of the knee, towards the inside. If I run my hand straight up from there then I can't feel bone any more, just a sort of hard muscly or tendony bit which carries on in a straight line from where the bone was. It heads right up towards my groin, but it's down the knee end that I get the most tightness, especially after running for a longer distance.

 

Speak to this guy. He does great deals:

Tendons are where muscles attach to bones.

I think you're feeling tightness in your semimembranosus (medial hamstring muscle).

The point you're referring to sounds a bit high up to be where the tendon inserts into the tibia.

Again, any diagnosis over the Internet is just guesswork without a physical examination.

If the tightness is due to fascial adhesions, you can do some work on a foam roller as in the video below (ignore the fact that he's wearing those godawful toe shoes):

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WErpKRJFQ3A"]Foam Roller- Hamstrings - YouTube[/ame]

And because of the medial hamstring's close proximity to the inner thigh, you can probably hit it with some adductor work too:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSxQuAYlPrE"]How to foam roll your inner thigh (adductor muscles) - YouTube[/ame]

 

But, just to reiterate.

Stretching tendons and ligaments = bad.

Stretching muscles = good.

 

Thanks for the info Van Zandt. I seem to have had a completely inaccurate idea of how my legs were constructed!

 

Now I'm confused again. (See, it didn't take long! )

What actually is the hamstring? Is it one of those muscles in that diagram you posted, VZ?

 

The hamstring group is essentially the entire back of your thigh, running from the top of your butt crease to your knee.

 

So is it all those three muscles from your diagram?

 

Yes.

 

Well I'l be damned. :jawdrop:

 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef68AotnTVQ"]Hamstring muscles - 3D anatomy tutorial - YouTube[/ame]

 

Johnno, no shame in not knowing that.

At least you're asking questions.

You'd be surprised how many so-called "qualified personal trainers" I've met who didn't know their brachialis from their butt crack.

 

I'm actually slightly embarrassed that I've had such a misplaced notion all this time of how my legs are constructed, and never had the curiosity to find out.

On the other hand, there will always be some things that I'll never know. The world is too complicated to know everything about everything, and so I suppose we have to pick and choose what we invest time in studying.

 

Exactly mate.

I only know about the human body because it's my job. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Ask me anything about cars, computers, music, and lots of other subjects, and I'd be stumped.