T Kumazaki, Y Ehara, T Sakai
The hamstring muscles were analyzed anatomically and physiologically to clarify the specific reasons for the incidence of muscle strain of the hamstrings. For the anatomical study, hamstring muscles of 13 embalmed cadavers were dissected. For the physiological study, the knee flexor torque and surface electromyographic (EMG) signals were measured during isometric contraction of hamstring muscles in 10 healthy adults. The biceps femoris muscle long head (BF-L) and semimembranosus muscle (SM) had hemi-pennate architecture and their fiber length per total muscle length (FL/TML) was smaller than that of semtendinosus muscle (ST) and biceps femoris muscle short head (BF-S) with other architecture...
December 2012: International Journal of Sports Medicine