Hamstrings are critical for helping you walk, run, and jump. Hamstrings are incredibly powerful, but also so easy to injure. It’s important to maintain strength in a hamstring to avoid injuring them. In this video, Haim Hechtman, DPT, demonstrates a series of exercises to strengthen the hamstring using a chair or a swiss ball.
The main idea is to focus on feeling the muscles in the back of the thigh engage by pressing the heels into the ball. To progress, lift the tailbone about two or three inches into the air while pressing the heels into the ball, but without arching the back. The next level involves rolling the ball back and forth with your heels. Take the exercises slow, as the hamstrings can become easily tired.
