In a recent newsletter I talked about how important it is to understand functional anatomy and human movement.
I gave the example of a D1 hockey player I worked with over the summer that “tweaked his hamstring”.
After he answered a barrage of my questions and I analyzed his movement a bit, I was able to determine that it was the short head (SH) of his biceps femoris (one of the 4 “hamstring” muscles).
Who cares?
This is actually really important because the SH is the only hamstring muscle that isn’t a hip extensor. This means I could still have him load a hip extension pattern (think stiff-legged deadlift) without further aggravating his “tweak”.
The outcome?
Continued progress despite a minor injury.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have my athletes continue to develop despite having a minor injury than have them sit out completely or just push through it and delay healing.
-Kevin Neeld