How long tight hamstrings

Here are five moves to add to your workout routine. A muscle strain, or pulled muscle, occurs when your muscle is overstretched or torn. This usually occurs as a result of fatigue, overuse, or improper…. Pain or discomfort anywhere in the leg can range from a dull ache to an intense stabbing sensation. Most leg pain occurs due to overuse or minor…. A recessed maxilla can cause cosmetic issues like flat cheekbones and a prominent jaw, and lead to dental problems, speech issues, and obstructed….

If you do tear a meniscus, you might be tempted to "walk it off. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. How to Treat and Prevent Tight Hamstrings. Stretches to loosen tight hamstrings. Foam roll hamstrings. Massage therapy. Physical therapy. When to see your doctor. Article sources. Read this next. After reading this you probably have a good idea of what you think will work best for you.

Give that a shot! Try it for a couple weeks, then check your progress and re-evaluate. The following video shows fundamental hamstring stretches that just require an elevated surface—a bench, chair, table, or anything sturdy enough to put your foot on. Just as described above, ease into the stretches with smooth rhythmic movements into and out of the stretch, followed by a short holding period.

I show a few variations in the short video, but just choose one that you are comfortable with at first, then feel free to play around with the techniques to see what works best for you!

If standing up while practicing these movements places too much strain on your hamstrings, the following video shows you seated variations with various modifications you can use. The key is finding what is most comfortable for you, and allows you to get the best movement in this area. As you can see, improving hamstring flexibility is less about sitting in boring, painful stretches, and more about getting some gentle movement in whatever ranges are good for you.

The tips above, along with the exercises shown, will help your hamstrings get looser more quickly, without the fear of injury that often accompanies hamstring stretches.

Ive seen Podiatrists, Neurologists and Orthopidics and nobody can tell me what is wrong. Any thought would be very much appreciated. Thank you. Thanks for your article.

No matter how much I stretch my hamstrings and lower back always go back to being extremely tight at the beginning of each day.

When I stretch them it pulls on my lower back in a painful-but-sort-of-feels-good kind of way, and definitely, most definitely involves my sciatic nerve, mostly on the right.. So I decided to take your advice and just stop stretching my hamstrings. And when I attempt to touch my toes my hamstrings actually seem looser than when I was stretching them 10 times per day. The nerve pain has definitely lessened, and if I feel it the quadricep stretch seems to knock it out. Does this make any sense?

Overdo it, hit the pain wall, rest for weeks or months, then repeat…. Makes complete sense. Sounds like you have 2 and you were making it worse with all of that stretching. Good job noticing and unloading the disc. I stumbled upon your site when searching for whether tight hamstrings can cause foot pain. I know my hamstrings are tight and always have been.

A few months ago I had an extensive abdominal surgery and developed low back discomfort and sacral pain during the recovery. I have sacroiliitis and a torn disc at L4. The disc is not pressing on any nerves, according to MRI, and there is no stenosis. During these past few months I developed intense, chronic knee pain and sporadic pain in the arches of my feet. I did the pencil test and look good in that area. Everything is pretty unpleasant at the moment.

Any thoughts? Thanks for your time. I currently walk over 10 miles a day as a postwoman. Any advice on what I should do? Hmmm, not enough info. You could have a low back issue, hip joint issue, sciatic nerve issue, or ham string issue. Can you get checked for adhesion? I was stretching on the floor with my legs spread and moving face towards the ground. I heard and felt a pop in my hamstring I think were my hamstring would be connected to my glute.

In the crease area. Very painful afterwards for a couple of weeks and I had to modify my fitness routine till it felt better. Ever since it has been really tight and when I run or bend over I can still feel it, a tight throbbing. I have tried not to stretch it too much.

Massaged it out a couple of times. Either due to protection of disc, sciatic nerve entrapment, or less probable — pre-existing adhesion in ham or hip joint issue.

My daughter is ONLY 10 years old. She kicked a soccer ball when it was COLD outside… at school when it was cold and felt a pull in the back of her leg where the hamstring is.. We saw her a few days running at softball around the bases we thought her shoe was about to come off or something, she ran so strange.. She looked very uncomfortable suddenly when she would run.. Could be hamstring adhesion, a sciatic nerve entrapment, or protective contraction of the hams due to a lumbar problem.

I am a 72 year old female, very slim, a regular in gym classes for 30 years and a Latin ballroom salsa dancer for 22 years up until the pandemic hit. Exercises for sciatica have not helped, neither have piriformis exercises. Foam rolling does not help. History with most recent first: Due to the pandemic my last day at the gym was in early March I participated in a circuit class.

We had to lift weights, place them down on the floor, run to the other side of the gym, and run back while running backwards. The instructor never told us to look back while running backwards. I ran backwards until I bumped into the pair of weights on the floor and fell hard onto the weights mostly with the outside of my left butt cheek and the area directly underneath it. It hurt very much but I was able to walk out of the class and the gym normally.

There was bruising in the area which healed. Soon I was able to continue exercising at home. For the next few months I was doing jumping jacks on a rebounder, squatting, lunging, and weight lifting with no pain at all.

Six months later on December 28th, , I went for a walk with my husband in our semi rural area. It was uphill and downhill. When we arrived home as we were approached the door I suddenly had excruciating pain down the left side of my body. I could hardly walk. Inside I lay down on my stomach and tried cobra pose which had alleviated back pain years before.

It did not help. The next morning the pain was still so bad that I suddenly fainted while standing in my kitchen. As I fainted I fell quickly onto my left butt cheek again, this time on top of a hard ice pack I had in my pants to ease the pain. This was during the height of the pandemic and going to see a doctor was out of the question, Could the gym fall and then the home fall onto the outside of the left butt cheek have injured the piriformis?

Could there be adhesions there? Could the piriformis have become tighter after healing causing the sciatic pain? Slowly things got back to near normal. Early on some days walking outside did not feel normal: Even though I could jump on the rebounder and dance inside, walking quickly outside was hard. Now that has improved but the tight hamstring feeling with some neurological issues down the left leg remain. Looking in the mirror unclothed it seems as if my body has shifted.

The center line that runs down from between the breasts to the navel is no longer centered, it veers left. My left hip now appears visibly lower than my right hip and has less of a curve than my right hip. Now sometimes I have knee pain too which I attribute to the tight hamstring issue. I resumed exercise, but avoid the squats and lunges and anything else which causes pain.

After also having some hip groin pain, I eased up on the jumping jacks. Pinched nerve, left proximal lateral recess mild spinal stenosis L Yeah sounds like this is a primary low back issue. Can we help? Look forward as you bend so you maintain the natural curve in your back.

Hold the stretch for 30 seconds and repeat it at least two times. Sitting on the floor with one leg extended and reaching for your toes will also stretch your hamstrings without stressing your lower back. Hold this stretch for 30 seconds and repeat it at least two times on each leg.

Before stretching, always warm up your muscles, because cold muscles are stiff, less pliable and prone to injuries. Jog or walk in place for five to 10 minutes. When you stretch, never pull your muscle to the point you feel pain -- you should only feel a slight tension. Avoid bouncing or jerking while stretching, because this can trigger muscle tears and cause more tightening. Breathe through the stretches and, for your safety, consult a doctor before starting a stretching routine, especially if you have injuries or health conditions.