When you have tight hamstrings, is stretching the thing to do?
How to know if you really have tight hamstrings
The hamstrings are a group of 3 muscles that are on the back of the thighs. They start at your “sit bones” (the bony prominence that you feel when you sit upright on a firm surface). They end below the knee joint on each side. These muscles flex, or bend, the knee and extend, or straighten, the hip. They are part of the posterior chain which are muscles that are on the backside of your body and includes the calves, hamstrings, glutes (buttocks), erector spinae (muscles along the spine that help you sit/stand upright), lats, and posterior shoulder muscles.
The hamstrings can feel tight after increased activity like squatting to pick up leaves/sticks in the yard, lunges, or hamstring curls with weights. Sometimes, they feel tight when you have been sitting for an extended period of time.
Range of motion does not always correspond with the feeling of tightness. I have seen people who tell me their hamstrings are tight, but when I check their mobility, they sometimes have normal mobility and muscle tissue length.
How do you know if you feel tight because of actual shortening with limited range of motion? Let’s start with checking the mobility or flexibility of your hamstrings.
To check out your hamstring range of motion, here are 3 techniques you can try at home:
Lay on your back and pull one knee up so that the hip is at a 90-degree angle. Slowly straighten the knee keeping the hip stabilized. The knee should straighten fully or to within 20 degrees of being fully straightened. Check both sides and notice any differences.
Lay on your back and keep the knee straight. Complete a straight leg raise with one leg, keeping the opposite leg straight but resting on the floor or bed. How high can you lift your leg? You can have someone help you to lift it until you feel the knee start to bend. The goal is to be able to bring the foot straight up toward the ceiling with the knee straight. When you feel the knee bend, stop raising the leg. If you bend the hip to at least 70 degrees (2/3 of the distance from the floor), your hamstrings have functional mobility.
Stand on one leg and try to lean over and see how far you can reach toward the floor. The leg you are standing on is the side you are testing. Let the other leg float back to help you balance. Check both sides. How far can you reach? Ideally, you can touch the floor with your fingertips. This test also combines some mobility testing of the ankle, so it can give you an idea of any mobility differences between the hamstrings and the calves on one leg versus the other.
So, how’s your mobility? How does one side feel as compared to the other?
If you find that you do have limited mobility, you can use these tests as stretches to help improve your flexibility.
If you do have limited mobility, then stretching can help.
My suggestion is to make sure you go through your full range of motion on a daily basis. To stretch, I would recommend slow, sustained holds and no bouncing. Static stretching is not recommended prior to a workout, but it is a good idea to complete some stretching daily. If you want to try one stretch and see how it goes, I would start with the first test listed above and try 3 repetitions holding each for 30 seconds each side.
If you found that you have good mobility in your hamstrings but your hamstrings feel tight, then what do you do?
Stay tuned for next week’s conversation where I’ll show you how to check your glute muscles and decide whether or not your hips/glutes are contributing to your sensation of tightness in the hamstrings.
Take good care!
Sharon