Hi everyone. We’re going to continue our journey with the hamstrings from the last 2 blog posts. Previously, we talked about how the hamstrings affect the quads and can be a kind of secret stressor in knee problems, potentially contributing to knee issues.
Before I really studied anatomy, I had a lot of misunderstandings about the body and how it works. I kind of had a really simplified idea of how everything functions. I didn’t know anything about the adductors and inner thighs. I didn’t know anything about the outer hips. But, now I know so much more.
Over the years I’ve seen a lot of folks come in with, what they call, a hamstring pull. They would indicate that way up at their sitting bone, they had a really tight feeling or fiery feeling, or they felt like they had pulled their hamstring and it was pulling on that sitting bone. And, it may be a hamstring pull. But, it really may not be, too.
There’s another enormous muscle that attaches up into the inner sitting bone. And if your hamstring pull feels a little bit toward the inside of the sitting bone, it may actually be adductor magnus. Adductor magnus is the largest of the adductor inner thigh muscles which draw the legs together. The hamstring muscles lay on top of a lot of adductor magnus. The medial hamstrings, semimembranosus, semitendinosus, lay on top of adductor magnus.
I would say most people have adductor tension. It’s funny that adduction tension is often a silent cause of a lot of problems in the body, like hamstring tension and shortness. An adductor magnus pull on the sitting bone can feel exactly like a hamstring pull because the hamstrings lay over top of adductor magnus. You might have adductor tension because you cross your legs or maybe you stand with your weight more to one side than the other. Everyone has crossed their legs. Everyone has stood with their weight on one leg. But if it becomes habitual, it can cause major problems.
So, this adductor magnus tension may present like a hamstring pull, and I get it. Maybe you go to stretch that side and that hamstring feels tighter. Often when the hamstrings get tense and short, they’ll adhere to the adductor magnus and then there’s not a lot of smooth movement between the two. It can create a limitation in the hamstrings and it can feel like a hamstring pull because they share connective tissue.
So to recap, adductor magnus attaches up into the medial sitting bone. When it’s pulled and stuck, it can feel like a hamstring pull. And if you’re treating hamstring pull over and over and over again and it’s not getting better, it might actually be adductor magnus that’s the problem.
I hope that helps! If this information was useful to you, drop us a comment. If you have a question, drop a comment, too!
