Tight Hamstrings...Probably Not.

Often times athletes or the general public will end up with anterior pelvic tilt. Usually by assessment you will discover short or stiff psoas via thomas test, weak psoas, as well as stiff hamstrings. Often times people will complain of their hamstrings being tight which is expected due to the tilt of the pelvis putting it on stretch. The question is, how do you detrmine which is the underlying cause of the anterior pelvic tilt. A variation on a test you might want to do is to lie the client on their back and put them in a posterior tilt. Have them perform the straight leg raise test form this position. If the reach approx. 70 degrees then that eliminates the hamstring stiffness and psoas strength as the underlying problem. The shortness would be the issue which long duration stretches would be prescribed. If it they are unable to reach the optimal ROM it is most likley due to the psoas weakness becasue of its inability to blance with the stiffness of the hamstring. This would imply that the client needs more activation and strenghtning of psoas to be addressed. This variation to the SLR is one of the easiest ways to eliminate the prominant issue when psoas weakness, stiffness, and when poor SLR are obtained originally.