What are the dangers of having tight quads?
Why tightness in the quadriceps can affect your injury profile as a runner.
Runners who have tightness in the quads are more likely to sustain hamstring problems. And many, many runners do have tightness in the quadriceps muscle, for a variety of reasons, and which tends to build up over time. This tightness may not even seem obvious, or feel like a problem, but it can cause more severe problems round on the other side of your legs.
So why do tight quads cause hamstring problems?
Tight quads and hip flexors create an ‘anterior pelvic tilt’ - in other words, you are bent forward ever so slightly at the hip. Although most of the quadriceps complex resides in the leg, one muscle, rectus femoris, crosses the pelvis and can cause this tilt when tight. In addition, tightened - and shortened - hip flexor muscles have the same effect.
Once you have this tilt, then clearly your hamstrings are under more tension even while standing still - they are stretched slightly. Now it would seem that there isn’t a strong link between hamstring tightness and hamstring injury - but there is a link between hamstring weakness and injury. And a muscle that is constantly slightly overstretched loses strength.
So let’s start here. Improving the flexibility of the hip flexors and rectus femoris not only reduces the anterior pelvic tilt, it allows the rest of the quadriceps complex to be efficiently stretched.
The standard quad stretch that everyone knows - stand on one leg, pull the other up behind you - isn’t a bad way to begin - but this stretch is often performed with exactly the slight pelvic tilt that is the culprit. I see it all the time. When you have pulled your bent leg up behind you, it’s important to stand tall and push your hips forward a bit to engage rectus femoris. A better way to get a decent stretch on that pesky muscle is to lie on one side, and perform the stretch from that position, stretching the quad that is uppermost (if you are lying on your right side, this will be your left quad).
Second quad factor? A tight muscle isn’t necessarily a strong muscle. Tightness in the quads can also be resolved by strengthening as well as stretching. Many runners’ quads get weaker and tighter over the years, but not so many runners take the time to put into place a combined flexibility and strength programme - even though it may only demand a few minutes a day - that may save their hamstrings from doom.
The bottom line? To keep your hams from twanging, go to the quads and hips and sort them out.