How To Stretch Hamstrings To Up Flexibility and Prevent Injury

Yes, your legs might be the guilty party. To seek out out how one can tell if that is so, and how one can stretch hamstrings effectively whether it is, we spoke with Katya Campbell, a licensed movement and mobility specialist, yoga teacher, CrossFit coach, and the fitness director at Mountain Trek Health Reset Retreat in British Columbia.

How do you realize in case your hamstrings are tight enough to cause back pain?

Low back pain can crop up when your hamstrings are so tight that they pull your pelvis out of alignment, which might strain the deep back muscles. But before blaming your hammies outright, it’s helpful to find out in the event that they’re tight enough to be the offender. There are just a few basic tests you may do to check your range of motion, says Campbell.

The best might be the passive forward fold. To do that, stand upright together with your feet together (preferably with no shoes on) then hinge out of your hips and reach right down to touch your toes or as near your toes as possible.

Should you are inside two inches from reaching the ground, Campbell says that you could have “moderate flexibility,” but anything higher up could indicate excessive tightness in your hamstrings.

Nevertheless, this assessment has some limitations. Namely, if you could have long arms, it can naturally make it easier to achieve the bottom (and people with shorter arms could have a harder time). Also, Campbell points out that this doesn’t test each leg individually. That’s why she also recommends the lively straight leg raise test.

To do that one, lie on the ground with each legs straight out on the bottom. Keep one leg flat on the ground and lift the other leg into the air, keeping each knees as straight as possible. As you lift your leg, have a look at how far the heel is coming up towards the ceiling. Campbell says that ideally, your heel should have the ability to come back according to or beyond the other knee. “That is an important indicator of hamstring flexibility, and we will see if one leg has greater limitations than the opposite, which is fairly common,” she says.

What causes very tight hamstrings?

Sometimes, chronically tight hamstrings are simply something you’re born with. “Genetics do play a job in hamstring length and we will not argue our way out of that one, but there are other aspects as well,” suggests Campbell. “Prolonged sitting, insufficient stretching after exercise, injury, and limited movement can all contribute to shortened hamstrings.”

Campbell points out that there’s a difference between short, stiff, and tight muscles, despite the fact that we are inclined to colloquially describe all of those as feeling “tight.” The nuanced distinctions between each of those situations can affect what’s happening in your body to create this sensation.

In case your hamstrings are short

“Short muscles (the least common) are sometimes because of an injury that has caused a big lack of movement at end range for a chronic time frame,” says Campbell. “For instance, an individual is in a forged or a brace. This has caused the muscle to progressively adapt to this recent shortened position.”

In case your hamstrings are stiff

Campbell says that a stiff muscle results from lack of movement, often from sitting in a automotive or at a desk, or from overuse because of hard workouts with eccentric exercises or repetitive movements.

In case your hamstrings are tight

“A decent muscle can often feel more like bone than muscle. They’re those thick, ropey muscles you can stretch repeatedly but are continually tight,” describes Campbell. “These often accompany an injury or a poor recruitment pattern where the body has essentially overused the muscle (causing it to be more hypertonic and thus ropey and bony feeling) fairly than using a more functional movement pattern.”

What are the risks of not stretching your hamstrings?

Ultimately, whether your hamstrings are stiff, short, or tight, Campbell says that certainly one of the largest concerns is potential injury. In any case, now we have ideal ranges of motion for the hamstrings, which now we have evolved over time for protected movements. When something compromises this range of motion, injuries can occur.

“If our muscles lack those abilities, it will probably take something small, like tripping over our children’ Lego, to potentially tear a muscle because of its inability to increase and contract,” warns Campbell.

However it doesn’t necessarily take a Lego incident to cause problems. Overly tight hamstrings “may also add undue strain on other parts of our body that must compensate for this lack of movement,” she says. “An ideal example of that is lower back pain, which is commonly seen in consequence of tight hamstrings.”

The best way to stretch hamstrings effectively

The important thing to releasing tight hamstrings is to include a wide range of stretching exercises into your regular routine, says Campbell. Even a dedicated 10-minute stretch session could make a serious difference in case you select the precise mixture of moves and know how one can stretch hamstrings the precise way.

“I wish to mix lively (dynamic) and passive stretching, in order that the muscle has the power to be in a lengthened position in all scenarios,” says Campbell. “Often, we may need moderate passive flexibility (corresponding to the standing forward fold), but after we make it more lively, we see greater limitations.”

Campbell shares just a few of the perfect hamstring stretches:

Reclined single-leg hamstring stretch

1. Lie in your back with a strap or belt beside you.
2. Bend each knees and plant your feet on the ground hip-width apart.
3. Extend one leg up above the hip and hook the strap/belt over your midfoot. Try to keep up a neutral spine.
4. Gently straighten the leg.
5. On an exhale, slowly straighten the other leg onto the ground. If this is simply too much, keep it bent.
6. Breath deeply and maintain this for five deep breaths.
7. Repeat on the opposite side.

Swinging leg touches

1. Stand upright with one hand on a chair for balance, if needed.
2. Shift your weight onto one leg and permit the other leg to swing as if it is a pendulum, forwards and backwards from in front of you, to behind you. Be sure that to maintain your chest tall as you do that.
3. Because the leg loosens up, slowly increase the range of motion of your swing.
4. If possible and you could have the balance, as you swing the leg out in front, take the hand on the other side and reach it to the touch towards your toes of the leg that’s swinging because it comes up in front of your body. Avoid rounding your back to make the touch.
5. Keep swinging and kicking to the hand 10 times, then switch sides.

Box hang

1. Step up onto a stable box or stair.
2. Place your toes on the front edge together with your feet hip-width apart.
3. Hinge at your hips (not rounding your back) and permit your body to hold in order that your arms drape right down to the toes. Should you are flexible or need to challenge your flexibility more, hold light dumbbells in your hands to deepen the stretch.
4. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds.
5. Engage your core and glutes to slowly stand back up.

Counteracting tight hamstrings isn’t nearly doing leg stretches, nevertheless. When your hamstrings are chronically tight, other muscles—like those deep back muscles—can tighten up as well.

“Often, the lower back becomes tight, because the hamstrings pull the pelvis back,” explains Campbell. “Working on lengthening the erectors (the long muscles alongside the spinal column) might be really helpful, as can foam rolling this area.”

Here’s how one can stretch hamstrings for back pain and hit those spinal muscles in the method with this seated hamstring stretch:

Seated supported forward folds

1. Sit on a folded blanket or firm pillow with the legs stretched out in front.
2. Place a firm pillow under the knees.
3. Hinge from the hips, pondering of rolling forward onto the sting of the sitting bones as you reach the hands along the legs towards the feet.
4. Hold for one minute, respiratory deeply. Then release.

Searching for more leg stretches? Do that lower body mobility routine: 

Is there anything you may do besides stretching to assist loosen up tight hamstrings?

Stretching isn’t the end-all-be-all in relation to loosening up tight hamstrings. You may wonder, Will massage loosen hamstrings? Actually. “Massage is a superb approach to increase blood flow, soften connective tissue, and restore healthy range of motion,” says Campbell, who particularly recommends Thai massage for this purpose.

Self-myofascial release methods like foam rolling and ball rolling can be highly effective, she adds. Campbell says she loves an exercise she calls the “hammy smash roll” with a lacrosse ball or similar small, firm ball:

1. Sit on a firm surface with legs overhanging, like a chair.
2. Place the ball behind one thigh, nestled into the tissue of the hamstrings.
3. Rest the load of the leg onto the ball in case you can handle it.
4. Slowly extend the leg out, mashing the ball into the tissue as you elongate the muscle along that pressure point.
5. Do this several times, and keep relocating the ball to different areas to search out out where the gnarly spots are. Be sure that to breathe throughout the complete process to assist loosen up your tissues.
6. Switch legs.

How long does it take to loosen tight hamstrings?

Ultimately, the explanation for your tight hamstrings will affect how much time it takes to resolve the difficulty.

“Whether it is because of injury, the secret is slow and regular, and it will probably take several months to revive full range of motion,” says Campbell. “If the tissue is stiff because of exercise (post-workout soreness and tension), normally a day or two and getting blood flow will loosen things up. If the muscles are tight and rigid, it will probably be something that can require regular maintenance to maintain things agile.”

So, be patient. With consistent practice, you may work your approach to feeling limber and agile—and pain-free—again.