Lengthening the hamstring muscles without stretching using "awareness through movement"
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Muscle Imbalances: Testing and Training Functional Eccentric Hamstring Strength in Athletic Populations
Published on: May 1, 2018
James Stephens1, Joshua Davidson, Joseph Derosa
1Physical Therapy Department, College of Health Professions, Temple University, 3307 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA.
Background And Purpose:
Passive stretching is widely used to increase muscle flexibility, but it has been shown that this process does not produce long-term changes in the viscoelastic properties of muscle as originally thought. The authors tested a method of lengthening hamstring muscles called "Awareness Through Movement" (ATM) that does not use passive stretching.
Subjects:
Thirty-three subjects who were randomly assigned to ATM and control groups met the screening criteria and completed the intervention phase of the study.
Methods:
The ATM group went through a process of learning complex active movements designed to increase length in the hamstring muscles. Hamstring muscle length was measured before and after intervention using the Active Knee Extension Test.
Results:
The ATM group gained significantly more hamstring muscle length (+7.04 degrees ) compared with the control group (+1.15 degrees ).
Discussion And Conclusion:
The results suggest that muscle length can be increased through a process of active movement that does not involve stretching. Further research is needed to investigate this finding.
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