Why Some Basketball Players Have Tight Hamstrings

Every athlete is unique and the anatomical predispositions they possess have been used to their advantage for high level performance. 

Lack of dorsi-flexion, lack of “flexibility”, or unaligned pelvic orientation (ATP vs PPT) do not need to be fixed unless…

They present first, secondary, and tertiary compensations in the body. 

Every anatomical position has an equal and opposite action happening musculary in the human body. 

Look at the second image. A posterior pelvic tilt will have a series of muscular actions that gravity pulls the body into. Lack of heel reference to the ground, can’t “feel” their hamstrings, upper posterior thorax is compressed, hip flexors have too much slack, so forth and so on. 

In this athlete’s case, he had the opposite, excessive anterior pelvic tilt, anterior upper thorax compression, lengthened “tight hamstrings” and lots of posterior compression. 

How does this happen? 

Look at slide 3. 

The heels act as rudders to guide horizontal force in work in unison with gravity. 

The heels provide extreme braking forces to coax one's body and properly traject during single leg take off. 

Consequently, longer ground contact and ground reaction forces are experienced during this phase of the gait cycle. 

Greater GCT & GRF can (not always) lead to an athlete being more posterior compressed in the glutes and low back muscles. Yes the hamstring is involved, but not to the degree of the aforementioned muscles due to the degree of hip flexion in upright single leg takeoffs. 

In order to restore your anterior pelvic tilt, we want to take the stress off of those tight muscles by activating and “turning on” the muscles that oppose the muscles on the backside of the hips. The muscles we will target that are especially underutilized in your case are the hamstrings and adductors. 

2 Exercises Shown: SL Heel Bridge with DorsiFlexion & Backwards Heel Walk  

1. Ground-reaction forces (GRF) are in posterior direction
2. Slows forward progression of body to allow for opposite side to come through
3. Sufficient friction is needed to prevent foot from slipping forward
4. Propulsive strategy needed immediately upon heel strike