#TNTEnhanced #Isometric exercises for #HamstringsTendinopathy

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If you have a deep ache right underneath your "sitting" bone when you sit down, particularly after exercising, if you feel tight in your hamstring right at the very top of the back of your thigh, or if you're tight and aching generally down the back of your leg when striding out, then you may have hamstrings tendinopathy.  You need a physio (preferably The Good Physio... heh) to diagnose this correctly, but assuming that is your diagnosis, then this exercise will definitely be of benefit to you.

We know that irritated tendons respond well to isometric (static) strength exercises that do not put the muscle on stretch while exercising.  This is both pain relieving and strength improving.  We also know that if you are engaging more parts of the cortex of your brain while doing exercise then you are switching off the reflex inhibition that usually kicks in when exercising a sore part of your body.  In other words, doing an isometric exercise with auditory cues will both increase your strength AND decrease your pain and reflex resistance to exercising.  I go through the exercise in this video... 

The best exercises we know of for tendinopathy are isometric exercises which decrease the pain of contraction in the tendon, and also enhance our capacity to tolerate load through these structures. Recent research has shown that this is further enhanced by using outside cues to increase our mindfulness while exercising.

To make life easier, and so you don't need to listen to my whole spiel on the video every time you do the exercise, I've added a video of JUST the exercise (with counting) below.  I recommend that you listen to the video while doing the exercise for each repetition that you complete of the exercise.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS:

  • Make sure your leg is quite straight while doing this, so the hamstrings are working hard
  • Take as much weight as you can through the exercising leg, even on the "rest" phases as shown in the video above
  • Focus on the auditory cues to improve activation and lessen inhibition coming from your brain
  • This is a good exercise to do as a warm-up (ONLY ONE REP!) and warm-down (Full set of 4 reps) prior to the activity that hurts
  • Once you are coping well with this exercise, we need to progress your exercises to include load with movement.