Why Are My Hamstrings Always Tight
The Pelvic Position Problem Disguised As A Flexibility Issue
You stretch your hamstrings every day. You have been stretching them for years. They are still tight. Here is the uncomfortable truth: your hamstrings are not tight. Your pelvis is in the wrong position, and stretching is making the problem worse.
Why Hamstring Stretching Does Not Work
When the pelvis tilts anteriorly, the ischial tuberosity (sit bones) where the hamstrings originate moves upward and backward. The muscle is being lengthened by the pelvic tilt. The sensation you feel when you try to touch your toes is not a short muscle resisting a stretch. It is an already-lengthened muscle at its limit. You are trying to lengthen a muscle that is already longer than it should be.
How Pelvic Tilt Lengthens Your Hamstrings
Every hamstring stretch pulls on a muscle already under tension from the pelvic position. The brain perceives this as a threat to the joint and reflexively tightens the hamstring further. You stretch harder. The brain tightens harder. The cycle continues indefinitely. This is the principle identified by Greg Roskopf in Muscle Activation Techniques: tightness is always secondary to weakness.
The Overworked Hamstring Hypothesis
When the pelvis is anteriorly tilted, the glute max is neurologically inhibited. The hamstrings take over as the primary hip extensor. They were not designed for this role. They fatigue faster, develop trigger points, and feel chronically tight because they are chronically overworking for an inhibited glute.
A Quick Test For Positional Hamstring Tightness
Lie on your back, feet on a wall with hips and knees at 90 degrees, press your lower back flat by exhaling fully and tucking your pelvis slightly. Hold for five breaths. Stand up and try to touch your toes. If you get significantly further than before, your hamstring tightness is a pelvic position problem, not a flexibility problem. The pelvis moved. The hamstring length did not change.
How Pelvic Repositioning Fixes Hamstring Flexibility
MOVECHECK assesses hamstring length in the context of pelvic position. When the assessment shows restricted flexibility alongside anterior pelvic tilt, the corrective protocol does not include hamstring stretching. It includes PRI-based pelvic repositioning that restores the hamstring to its normal resting length. The flexibility improves as a side effect of correcting the position.
See This In Your Own Body
Every concept in this article is tested in the MOVECHECK assessment. Find out which patterns apply to you.
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