Why Are Your Hamstrings So Tight
Many people wonder what causes tight hamstrings. There are a number of causes that typically involve overuse and underuse. Here are some of the top causes of hamstring tightness.
- Sitting for long periods.
- New exercises that involve the hamstring.
- Overuse can happen to runners or those playing sports with lots of running and jumping.
- Sprain or strain usually the result of a minor injury.
Hips Hamstrings And Lower Back Pain
Thomas A. McNally, MD, orthopedic surgeon and Medical Director at the Chicago Spine Center at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, says, The tightness in the hip flexors and hamstrings can alter the this affects the way your spine lines up and can cause low back pain.
Youll find the hip flexors, a group of muscles, around the front of the hips. They go into effect as you move your leg and knee in an upward motion. The hamstrings are muscles in the backs of the thighs that help to flex the knees and extend the hips.
From the perspective of a doctor of physical therapy, Tony Matoska, PT, DPT, CMPT, Clinic Manager for Athletico Muskego, WI and Wisconsin Spine Specialty Program Regional Coordinator for Athletico, notes that tight hips and hamstrings are more likely to affect your lower back than your middle or upper back .
In addition to muscle tightness in the hips, Matoska notes that stiff hip joints can lead to lower back pain. A lack of rotational motion and ability to flex or extend your hip forwards or backwards can affect your walking, running, swinging, and twisting motions and increase mechanical strain on your lower back.
As for hamstring tightness, he explains that this can actually be a side effect of lower back pain. Pelvic position, muscle guarding, and weakness can contribute to your hamstrings feeling tight and be a result of someone’s back pain, he says.
How Do You Stretch The Tendon Behind Your Knee
1.Lying hamstring stretch
You May Like: What Type Of Mattress Is Good For Lower Back Pain
How Your Tight Hamstrings Can Impact The Lower Back
Like most people, you might be wondering how the muscle fibers attached to the hip bones and legs cause lower back pain. So why do tight hamstrings lead to chronic backaches? As it turns out, the answer lies in the vital function of the hamstring: supporting the lower body when moving around. When you walk, run or bend your knees, the hamstring muscles interact with your hip bones and the glutes.
Naturally, moving your hip bones becomes problematic if you have tight or sore hamstrings. It can also lead to increased muscle strain on your lower back and leave your spinal bones at risk of shifting and causing further issues such as sciatica.
What Causes Tight Hamstring And Calf Muscles
The hamstrings are a group of muscles in the upper leg. They are located on the backside of the upper leg and are comprised of three muscles: biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. The calf muscles are located on the backside of the lower leg and are comprised of two muscles: the gastrocnemius and soleus. Tight hamstring and calf muscles can be painful, limiting ones mobility. They also make lower extremity muscles more vulnerable to injuries. Tight hamstrings and calves can arise from different sources which include:
Also Check: What Causes Lower Back Hip Pain
How Do We Assess Hamstring Flexibility
There are a series of different tests that can be used to assess hamstring flexibility. One of the most common tests used by doctors, chiropractors and physios is the straight leg raise . We are taught that if the leg doesnt pass 80-degrees that the hamstrings are too tight and the solution is to stretch them.
Straight Leg Raise Test. From Illustrated Orthopedic Physical Assessment 3rd ed.
In Dr Stuart McGills Book Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance, he found that many of the elite level basketball players, sprinters and weight lifters are usually the tightest and wouldnt pass the straight leg raise test. Its been said that their muscles are wound like springs because theyve adapted and developed the ability to absorb load and then contract with an enormous amount of force.
> > > The Shocking Ways Your Tight Hips Are Holding You Back
Many people have tight hips. A tight hip is caused by muscle tension in the hip flexors. These muscles stabilize the pelvis, move the legs sideways, and shorten in order to draw the knees in toward the chest. They are also responsible for poor posture and misalignment of the head. They are located on the front of the inner hip. They are a vital part of the core. If you want to avoid the discomfort and stiffness that can accompany tight hips, here are some tips to keep your hips healthy.
Tight hips can cause lower back pain and difficulty standing up straight. You can also perform a hip flexor test to determine if you have tight hips. You need to lie on a flat surface and have someone hold your leg. If you have a tight hip, your thigh will rise. If you feel pain while bending, you may have tight hips. Try to do some light stretches.
Don’t Miss: Which Bed Is Best For Back Pain
Hamstring Stretches For Lower Back Pain
There are many potential causes of lower back pain. But did you know that having tight hamstrings is one of the most common contributing factors?
Tight hamstrings can put strain on the ligaments surrounding your vertebrae and cause your pelvis to tilt backwards. This then puts strain on your back muscles and can cause bulging discs in your back.
If your hamstrings are relaxed, your pelvis can tilt forwards and thus take the strain off your back ligaments and discs. Doing hamstring stretches for lower back pain can therefore reduce the strain on your back.
Causes Of Tight Hamstrings
The 3 muscles comprising the hamstrings gradually lose their flexibility with age. Tightness begins to develop during early childhood, slowly increasing over time due to a change in elasticity and decreased level of physical activities that involve these muscles.1
In general, women have more flexible hamstrings than men of the same age, which is likely due to anatomical variations in joint structure and also the performance of more rigorous physical work by men, resulting in greater micro-trauma to these muscles.1
Routinely participating in high-intensity sports that involve running, sprinting, and abrupt leg movements, such as basketball and tennis, are common risk factors for hamstring tightness. Sports medicine specialists commonly recommend stretching the hamstrings before engaging in such type of sports while counseling athletes on injury prevention.
Watch:Seated Chair Hamstring Stretch for Sciatica Relief Video
Also Check: What Is The Most Effective Treatment For Lower Back Pain
How Do Hamstrings Cause Lower Back Pain
The hamstrings connect to the knee and go all the way into the hip girdle and pelvis, which is connected to your lower back. When your hamstrings are tight, they can cause the pelvis to tilt at the wrong angle. This tilting may not be noticeable at first, but over time it can start causing problems due to the misalignment.
The pelvis and the lumbar vertebrae work together, so when the pelvis tilts the wrong way, the vertebrae in the lumbar spine are forced to flex at a strange angle. This brings increased stress and strain to the pelvis, lumbar spine, and surrounding muscles. It is so important to remember that everything in our body is interconnected. If something is misaligned or has been injured, it is likely to affect other parts of your body.
Why Do Tight Hamstrings Cause Back Pain
Hamstrings are in your legs, so at first glance, it may not be obvious why they can have such an effect on the low back. More often than not, pain in one area of the body causes pain elsewhere. We may think of our body as a compilation of individual parts, but when you look deeper into anatomy, you see that everything is connected far more than it seems. The tighter the hamstrings are, the more they pull on their attachment sites. One of which we already learned is on the back side of the pelvic girdle. Tension in this spot translates to increased tension and pressure in the low back.The hamstrings pull also forces the pelvic girdle to tilt backwards and negatively affect spinal alignment.
Recommended Reading: What To Do When Pulled Muscle In Lower Back
Can Tight Hamstrings Cause Knee Swelling
Inflammation of the joint, particularly near the knee joint, is one of the most common symptoms of this condition. This pain may cause discomfort up the thigh or into the hip or pelvic region. An excessive amount of fluid around or in the knee or thigh.
Why do knee and leg pain often accompany tight hamstrings and glutes? Researchers looked at the size of the hamstrings muscles as opposed to the thigh muscles . In comparison to larger hamstrings, patients with smaller ones had more MRI findings of cartilage and meniscus swelling and degeneration. The most common source of irritated nerves in the lower back is your hamstrings. If your legs are tight, you may want to go to the gym to see if they are also weak. The joint can be imbalanced if the knee extension machine allows you to perform a significant amount of weight than the knee flexion machine . Nonsurgical Regenexx solutions are available at 78 clinics across the country.
Can Tight Hamstrings Affect Your Knees
Tightened hamstrings pull the back of the shin bone toward the buttocks. It effectively bends the knee . If you walk or run on a bent knee, your kneecap becomes too heavy, causing pain in the anterior part of the knee.
Sciatic tightness is defined as a condition of the back of the knees nerve, not tightness in the hamstring. When your Sciatic nerve is causing a restriction at the back of your knee, passive holding a hamstring stretch will not improve your mobility. If this condition is not addressed, it may result in an increased risk of hamstring injury. Youre probably not experiencing the same pain as you are when youre stretching your hamstrings. The most important structures that are located in the Popliteal Fossa at the back of the knee are nerves and vessels. As a result, it becomes easier to comprehend whats actually tight in this manner. Back dysfunction is the most common cause of strained hamstrings.
Recommended Reading: How Relief Lower Back Pain
Can Tight Hamstrings Cause Low Back Pain
Ive worked with many patients over the years who have been told by healthcare providers that their tight hamstrings are the cause of their low back pain. Theyve been given hamstring stretches which results in little to no effect on the actual length of their hamstrings or their back pain.
It is a common perception that hamstring stretches are necessary for those with low back pain. A quick Google search leads one to believe that tight hamstrings are the cause of low back pain, therefore, stretching them must be the solution.
Tight or stiff hamstrings are a common finding in people with painful backs, but are they the actual cause or are they as a result of low back pain? Lets discuss this a little further.
To Reduce The Inflammation
Follow the RICE principle after the hamstring muscle injury: rest, ice, compression & elevation.
- If swelling is present Use ice packs.
- Resting the injury is essential as soon as to feel symptoms so dont cause further tissue injury.
- Use an elastic wrap to reduce swelling.
- Use heat for the damaged muscles
Don’t Miss: What To Do For Lower Back Pain And Stiffness
Low Back Nerve Injury
Muscles require electrical impulses to function. The electrical impulses tell the muscles when to contract and when to relax. This is critical information and is conveyed by the nerves in the low back. These nerves are called the spinal nerves. An uninterrupted electrical signal from the brain to the leg results in a smooth and coordinated contraction of the muscle. A weak or intermittent electrical signal, however, causes muscle dysfunction. Over time if the electrical signal is weak or intermittent chronic muscle tightness occurs. Persistent muscle contraction can also cause tendon injury.
What Can Cause a Weak or Intermittent Electrical Signal?
- Low back disc bulges
- Low back stenosis
How Can Tight Hamstrings Cause Sciatica
Sciatica is usually caused by a bulging disc in the lower back which presses on the sciatic nerve. This is incredibly common and very uncomfortable. And the same tightness in the hamstrings that contributes to lower back pain can contribute to sciatica.
The reason for this has to do with the extra load that is put on the spine, especially when bending over. Bending with loose hamstrings will allow you to maintain an ideal posture by hinging at the hips and keeping a straight back.
If you have tight hamstrings, it will cause your lower back to bend, which puts strain on the discs. So, every time you bend over with tight hamstrings, youre putting excess pressure on the discs, which can lead to sciatica.
This is why improper bending and lifting are things to avoid to prevent a sciatica flare-up. And you may think that stretching your hamstrings will help relieve your sciatica, but this isnt necessarily the case. In fact, improperly stretching your hamstrings while youre suffering from sciatica may worsen the symptoms.
There are good sciatica stretches and bad ones. More on that later. For now, lets talk about sciatica and tight hamstring differences.
Don’t Miss: When To See A Dr About Back Pain
How To Fix Tight Hamstrings And Back Pain Hip Rotation And Mobility
When the hips do not move well, back is usually the result. The reason this happens is that your body need will always find a way to get what it needs. If your hips are not moving the way they are supposed to your lower back will make up for it. The problem is that for most athletic movements you dont want your lower end moving at all. Part of having a strong core means stabilizing the lower back.
The best thing you can do to improve your hips is the stretch in the video below. It is a simple stretch, but when you do it daily, your hips open up a great deal. The stretch works on
- External rotators
- Gluteus muscles
Hamstring Stretches For Back Pain & Tight Muscles
The importance of hamstring stretches is often underestimated. However, regularly stretching your hamstrings is one of the most effective ways to prevent back pain and ease tight muscles. If you think you need to improve your hamstring flexibility but dont know where to start, dont worry! This article covers all you need to know about hamstring stretches.
Contents:
Have you ever thought about turning your passion for fitness into a lucrative career? Taking a personal training course with OriGym is the perfect way to get started! For more information, .
Also Check: How To Help Arthritis In Lower Back
Tight Tendon Behind Knee Treatment
There are a few different ways that you can treat a tight tendon behind your knee. One way is to stretch the tendon by doing hamstring stretches and calf raises. You can also massage the area to help loosen the muscle. Another way to treat a tight tendon behind your knee is to use a foam roller or tennis ball to massage the area. You can also use ice to help reduce inflammation and pain.
When the knee is tight due to overuse, injury, or wear and tear, it becomes inflamed. Tears in the knee, for example, can cause a person to hear or feel apop. These bands of connective tissue are responsible for connecting bones together. Self-help measures can alleviate pain and improve joint function. When the knee joint becomes too stiff due to excess scar tissue, it is consideredarthrofibrosis of the knee, also known as stiff knee syndrome. Despite the fact that there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, medications may slow its progression. It is possible to experience tight knee muscles as a result of tendonitis, ligaments, or cartilage damage within the knee. If you are experiencing tightness in one or both knees, you should see a doctor. Simple home exercises can help reduce knee tightness and support the joint.
Can Tight Calves Cause Knee Pain
In addition to causing pain behind the knee, a tight Calf muscle can limit the range of motion of the knee. It is a good idea to stretch out the tissue where the muscle joins the tendon in order to alleviate pain.
Runners can experience pain under their knees or behind their knees. Runners who suffer from patella femoral pain in their heels have been shown to experience a high level of impact force at heel strike. Calf muscles include the gastrocnemius, soleus, and plantaris. The soleus accounts for more than half of the total muscle volume in the calf. As the foot is plantarly flexed at the end of a runners stride, the soleus regulates the foots shin bone, slowing it down. You should be stretching and strengthening your soleus in order to keep it in good condition. Trigger points in the soleus can cause ankle pain by causing knots in the muscles that control motion.
You May Like: Does Back Pain Qualify For Disability
