Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Snapping hamstring

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    • 04/23/2020 at 6:10 pm #151197
      Avatarrconnor
      Participant

      Hi all!
      Whenever I reach just above parallel in my squat, my hamstring (biceps femoris tendon) “snaps” over my fibular head on the outside of my knee. It makes a loud clunking sound every time and you can visibly see it snapping. This even happens with just passive range of motion too when I bend my knee past 90 degrees. I’ve had this for years and haven’t been able to get rid of it. I’ve tried stretching my hamstrings but that doesn’t seem to help much. Are there any mobilizations or exercises to get rid of this so I can squat deeper without it snapping?

    • 04/24/2020 at 10:19 am #151549
      Michael AlzheimerMichael Alzheimer
      Participant

      Hello,

      Is the snapping painful? Did you have a previous injury around the knee or hamstring? Difficult to assess why you’re having this snapping sensation but sounds like you may have a subluxation of the biceps femoris tendon due to an abnormal insertion. This can be genetic or due to a previous injury. Snapping hamstring syndrome is not a super common phenomenon and there really isn’t a ton of research around the topic. You can try to manage symptoms with still stretching, perhaps some compression or voodoo wrapping, and modifying training or squats so as not to irritate the area. However, all of these will just work towards managing symptoms and there isn’t really any mobilization or exercise that will fix the abnormal insertion. If you have been able to train around the issue I would continue to do so but if you are having pain or the issue is limiting your function you may have to seek out a medical pro for a differential diagnosis and management.

    • 04/27/2020 at 9:28 am #152533
      Avatarrconnor
      Participant

      Thanks for the reply, Michael! It is not painful unless I do a lot of reps, more just very annoying and limits my range of motion. And I never had any injuries to the area that would have caused it.
      Thanks for this info you found, I will just try to continue managing it with stretching for now.

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