At some point in our lives we have all had our hamstrings calling out at us for help. Whether it’s to do with running a marathon or sitting at our desks for far too long…..yes, for some of us touching our toes can seem impossible.
Let’s face it, most of us are sitting more than standing, and our posture and neck can look a bit like we are half way through the music video “walk like an Egyptian”.
When our ears are in front of the tips of our shoulders, the front neck muscles or (deep neck flexors) are basically on holiday relaxing away. Our hamstrings then need to work extra hard at tightening to balance the posture out.
This “balancing” is really compensation. This is because the deep neck flexors are one of the master stabilising muscles of our body. Other primary stabilisers are our hip flexors and pelvic floor to name a few. So when one of the ‘master’ muscles are not activated, the body will compensate and steal more stability from somewhere else, mainly the less important stabilising muscles, and that is where fatigue and pains can arise as this is not the job the stabilising muscle (e.g. hamstring) was born to do…it still has its own role to fulfil.
If your hamstrings are giving you a hard time, or if you want to improve your flexibility, get your Chiro to make sure your neck is carrying its own load.
http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/are-your-weak-neck-muscles-making-your-hamstrings-tight