Why Some Basketball Players Have Tight Hamstrings

The human body is an unbelievable compensator. 

In basketball all planes, powers, and energy systems are needed to perform the sport at a high level. As I’ve alluded to before, the right side of the body spends more time on the ground. As a result, compensatory patterns begin to present themselves. Today, after a full assessment last week, I used the G-flight to see the discrepancy between the right/left limb in single leg jumping after our (left foot only 90/90 accelerations). 

The Results? 

16.6 inches on the Left | 9.9 inches on the right 

RSI = 2.07 on the left | 1.88 on the right 

Why Does This Happen? 

Most athletes have a preconceived plant leg. This is the leg they prefer to step back with, accelerate with, and take off with in dunks/layups. This preconceived pattern is a byproduct of early age exposure, genetics, accumulated stress, and anatomical strategies. In this PRI community, this would be explained as the left AIC pattern. 

Athletes who show symptoms of the Left AIC pattern have muscles that are activating in such a way that their left ilium is rotated (or flexed) forward. The entire pelvis is oriented to the right, and their center of mass is shifted over to the right.

This means they 

1. Except Weight on right side 
2. Better at stopping on a dime and collision on right side 
3. Better at propulsion and generating force on the left side 

When This Becomes a Problem 

By increasing ground contact times with the right, you’re rewiring the brain to compensate. The left side (although better at generating force) can become more susceptible to injury due to the inability to handle higher loaders (ground reaction forces). 

The Solution? 

Train accordingly. 

How we got this to change was:

1. Strengthened the left hip musculature in Left AF/IR, the left hamstring, left IC adductor, left glute medius, and left internal obliques and transverse abdominis. 
2. Performed a majority of the warm up and supplemental jump exercises with the left side loaded ipsilaterally. For example, the single leg reactive jump. We performed weighted jumps on the left leg (longer GCT & increased resistance). From here, we then would perform “unloaded” single reactive jumps on the right side for two reasons: 

1. Get the brain to perceive their resistance (contrast) 
2. Work on propulsive mechanics and less GCT to counterbalance the left