For athletes, there is always the risk of injury when it comes to competition and high intensity training. College athletes force their bodies to endure great stress on their bodies, in particular their muscles. In most high intensity sports, there are many injuries that can be considered ‘career- ending’. Across, the spectrum, one of the most commonly injured muscles is the hamstring. Anyone involved in competitive athletics has heard about the precautions of a hamstring strain, pull or tear. Athletes are taught to stretch and warm up and stretch again, especially the area of muscles on the posterior thigh as a primary precaution against injury.
The hamstring is made up of three strong and powerful muscles: the biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus. This group of muscles work together to complete a variety of functions that are necessary for bipedal motion. These muscles originate underneath the gluteus maximus on the pelvic bone and attach on the tibia. The primary function of this muscle group is flexion of the knee and hip extension. However, during movement, the primary function of this muscle group is to decelerate the lower leg in the sagittal plane. This change is caused primarily to the body’s response to gravity during movement. Other functions include maintaining a standing position at rest, and limiting for far one can bend forward when trying to touch one’s toes without bending the knees, and aiding in straightening the lower curvature of the spine.
The biceps femoris is a two headed muscle that inserts on the lateral side of the leg. This muscle arises from the ischial tuberosity as a tendon, which it shares with the semitendinosus. There is a short and a long head of this muscle. The short head arises from the outside edge of the linea aspera of the femur. Both the long and the short head share a common insertion point at the head of the fibula. When flexed, this muscle can laterally rotate the leg. The long head of the biceps...