Muscles
Semimembranosus Trigger Points
Symptom Area: Hip, Thigh and Knee
Semimembranosus Trigger Points are explored here through their location and referred pain pattern. Muscle knots is an everyday term used for tender muscular spots; myofascial pain describes pain involving muscle and its surrounding connective tissue. Deepest hamstring extending hip, flexing and internally rotating the knee.
Where you feel it
When the Semimembranosus holds active trigger points, you usually notice it as buttock pain and posterior thigh pain. Where the pain spreads: Posterior knee and ischial pain. What often sets it off: Sprinting, repeated kicking, post-surgical disuse.
Overview
Deepest hamstring extending hip, flexing and internally rotating the knee. Trigger points here are common in everyday and athletic populations and frequently contribute to the referred pain patterns described below.
Trigger point locations
Posteromedial thigh, deep to semitendinosus.
Referred pain pattern
Posterior knee and ischial pain.
Palpation & testing
Palpate the muscle belly along its accessible course. Reproduction of the patient's familiar pain on palpation supports involvement.
Common causes
Sprinting, repeated kicking, post-surgical disuse.
Self-care & clinical treatment
Eccentric hamstring work. Clinically: needling.
Treatment protocol
For Semimembranosus, the general protocol applies: sustained pressure release on the taut band, then stretch and active movement in the newly gained range.
Position and palpation: Palpate the muscle belly along its accessible course.
Regional precaution for clinicians: Around the hip and thigh the sciatic nerve behind the deep gluteals, the femoral nerve, artery and vein in the femoral triangle and the adductor canal are the structures to map before treatment.
Primary Symptoms
Secondary Symptoms
Often confused with
These muscles cause the same primary symptoms, so they are checked together:
Related muscles in this region
Related articles
References
- • Travell & Simons — Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction
Medically reviewed by: Marco Aruffo — physiotherapist since 2006, specialised in myofascial pain · Last reviewed:
