Dealing with stiffness in the back of your thighs can be a real pain in the butt. Fortunately, the best hamstring stretches can provide sweet, sweet relief.
Sweet, sweet relief coming right up. Dealing with achy stiffness in the back of your thighs can be a real pain in the butt. Fortunately, the best hamstring stretches can be a balm for tight and cranky legs, providing sweet, sweet relief.
And that’s something lots of folks can celebrate. That’s because tight hamstrings are “very common,” Natalie Frizzell, PT, DPT, an exercise and sports physical therapist with FX Physical Therapy, tells SELF. There are a bunch of reasons why—and also a bunch of different stretches you can do to help. Below, important intel on the causes and repercussions of tight hammies, how to loosen them up, and 10 physical therapist-approved hamstring stretches that will do just that. What is the root cause of tight hamstrings? There are plenty of reasons why tight hamstrings happen. A really common one is all the time we spend sitting on our butts, physical therapist and run coach Kimberly Melvan, DPT, CSCS, tells SELF. “When you're in that sitting position, it shortens the muscles,” she explains. So if you're doing that for long periods of time, stiffness can start to creep in. Being inactive in general can also contribute. “Just not using them can cause them to tighten up”, Dr. Melvan adds. Weak glutes are another culprit, since that causes the hamstrings to take on more work to extend the hips, Dr. Melvan explains. When the hammies get overworked, they can tighten up. Other contributing factors include having weak hamstrings, a history of hamstring strains, flexibility issues in other muscles, or motor control issues in the hips or knee joints, Dhara Shah, PT, DPT, physical therapist in outpatient rehab at Emory University Hospital and spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association, tells SELF. Genetics may be at play too; some of us just have tight hamstrings thanks to our DNA, Dr. Frizzell says. Finally, it might not have to do with the muscles themselves, either. Sometimes when you have tight hamstrings, the muscle itself isn’t shortened, but rather there’s tightness in the myofascia, which is connective tissue that surrounds and interweaves multiple muscles, Dr. Shah explains. When a muscle is injured or put under extra stress, myofascial trigger points—basically, irritable spots in the muscle—can form and cause pain. Your hammies can also feel tight when there’s restricted blood flow to them. “If muscles do not get enough oxygen from appropriate blood flow, it can cause pain or discomfort,” Dr. Shah explains. Tight hamstrings don’t feel great, but can they put you at risk of injury? Here’s the thing: “Tight hamstrings don’t always equate to injury or pain,” Dr. Melvan says. Some people may have tight hamstrings and be just fine. But other times, they can cause problems in surrounding muscles and joints. “If you don't have enough motion in one area, you'll see issues in another area,” Dr. Melvan explains. “The back, hips, knees—all of those can have issues if the hamstrings are tight.” That’s because tight hammies can shift your movement patterns, change your posture, and limit your range of motion, she says. And these alterations can lead to other muscles taking on more stress than they are designed to, ultimately upping the chances of pain and injury. When the hamstring muscles are shortened, you can also feel aches in and around the hammies themselves, since that shortening causes inflexibility of the muscle and surrounding joints. This prohibits our bodies from moving in the range of motion that’s required for daily movements, which can lead to pain in our tissues and joints, Dr. Shah explains. Shortened hamstrings can also increase your risk of injuring the hamstring muscle group . “Basically it decreases the available range for the muscle to be able to work in, so it’s easier for that muscle to reach its end capacity, and then that's where we can get things like muscle strains and tears,” Dr. Frizzell explains. How stretching can help tight hamstrings Regular stretching can help lengthen tight hamstrings and alleviate some of the issues caused by them. “In general, just increasing lower extremity flexibility and range of motion helps improve mobility, especially in the lower back,” Dr. Melvan says. “The more mobile you are, the better you’re able to move in and out of those movements that you want without causing issues.” Stretching can also help tight-feeling hammies caused by myofascial trigger points and reduced blood flow. Keep in mind, warming up your muscles before activity—including, yup, the hammies—“is a really good idea” to reduce your risk of muscle strains, Dr. Shah says. Dynamic stretches are ideal to do before exercise as a way to boost blood flow and prep your hammies for what’s ahead. Dynamic hamstring stretches are also a smart way to bring more motion into an otherwise sedentary routine. Movement helps lubricate our joints, Dr. Shah explains. “So if you've been sitting at work, or in one position at work, the movement part of stretching is important.” She recommends doing 10 reps of a dynamic stretch to reap the benefits. You can also perform dynamic stretches for time—Dr. Melvan suggests one minute as a solid goal. Static stretches are helpful post-exercise when your tissues are already warm. Compared to dynamic stretches, “the prolonged stretching can help the tissues actually elongate a little bit more after the workout,” Dr. Shah says. She suggests holding a static stretch for 30 seconds, and repeating for three to five rounds. To maintain the benefit of static stretching, you need to do it on a regular basis. “Daily stretching is going to help you rather than, I’m going to stretch once a week,” Dr. Melvan says. This doesn’t need to be a huge time suck: Stretching for just a couple minutes a day, most days of the week, “would probably be sufficient,” Dr. Melvan says. While stretching your hamstrings is good, don’t forget about strengthening them. Remember, weak hamstrings can cause the muscle group to feel tight; regularly challenging them with resistance moves can combat that. Finally, one important caveat: Sometimes people think they have tight hamstrings, but it’s actually sciatic nerve tension Sciatic nerve pain usually comes with butt or low back pain but it can mimic hamstring tightness, Dr. Shah says. The distinction is important, since doing a bunch of hamstring stretches when you have sciatic nerve pain can actually exacerbate your symptoms, or at the least just not help them improve. So if you’ve been consistent with your hamstring stretches and find your tightness is getting worse, or not improving after several weeks, stop and get checked out by a physical therapist. You should also see a PT if your hammies are not just tight but also painful, or if they suddenly became tight after a specific event—for example, when you lunged for the ball while playing rec soccer, Dr. Shah adds. 10 hamstring stretches your leg will love First, there’s no one “best” hamstring stretch—the best hamstrings stretches are the ones that feel the most comfortable and easiest for you to do. “If you're trying to do stretches that are hard, you're not going to do them, and then there's no point,” Dr. Melvan says. You’ll see there’s a lot of variety here—some stretches are performed standing up, others involve a chair, and still others have you on the ground—so test out a bunch and see what feels best for you . You don’t need to do a ton of different hamstring stretches in order to see the benefit. Picking just one or two that work for you is usually all you need, Dr. Shah says.
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