I'm getting increasingly unsettled by the 'tight hamstring' cry of many of the patients I see at the clinic. Why is it only hamstrings that get tight - I've rarely heard of someone complaining of tight biceps.

Hoskins et al. explain that hamstring injuries are the most common injury in running-based power sports. Conventional sports medicine‘s thinking is that poor flexibility, fatigue, lack of warm-up and weakness are factors for injury – but there is no good scientific evidence to support this thinking.

Hoskins’s RCT took 59 adults from two Australian Rules football teams. One group continued to receive the typical gold standard care as directed by the club staff for the season. The other group received massage, as directed by the club staff, and chiropractic management, as directed by the chiropractor, with a minimum treatment schedule of one treatment per week for 6 weeks and 1 treatment per fortnight for 3 months then one treatment per month for the rest of the season.

Injury diagnosis was done by the club staff blind to which treatment has been received.

After 24 matches there was a significant difference in favour of those in the chiro group. There was also a significant difference in the number of weeks missed due to hamstring injury: 4 weeks total verses 14 in control, low limb muscle strain (4 vs 21), non-contact knee injury (1 vs 24).

Hoskins w Pollard H, Bonello r (2007) the effect of sports chiropractic on the prevention of athletic injuries in Elite athletes: a randomised controlled trail. Abstract in Proceedings of the WFC’s 9th Biennial Congress, 163-164

A start in the addressing of this testing condition, any thoughts or better yet, any better evidence?