Tight Quads Overpower Hamstrings
When your quads are too tight, and the pelvis is pulled down in front, there is a corresponding lift up in back. This puts the hamstring “on a stretch,” as therapists like to say.
And yes: This can hurt.
If you sit a lot at home or work, you can probably feel your “sitting bones.” These small bones need hamstring muscles to stay attached to your hip.
Generally good posture helps pull down your pelvis in the back. This is a good thing because it helps keep your pelvis in a comfortable position.
Tight quads set off a “chain reaction” in your body as the pelvis moves down in front and up in back while the hamstring stretches. The reaction? Pain, and often lots of it.
If you don’t strengthen your hamstrings and stretch your quads, the hamstrings may lose their ability to support your ideal pelvic and spinal positions.
Yoga Prayer Pose Lower Back Muscle Endurance Exercise By Position
This lower back muscle endurance exercise by yoga is a perfect way to work the muscles that are important for our body alignment and balance. Many of the body parts, which we use on a day-to-day basis, are held up by the muscles that support them. The muscles in the lower back are strong, but when they are weak, back pain occurs.
- One way to do yoga exercise by position that aids in lower back muscle endurance is to lie on your back with your hands placed crosswise and then pull your right lower arm towards your chest while pulling your left hand towards the right shoulder.
- With your arms being pulled straight up to your chest, tighten your stomach muscles and hold this position for ten seconds.
- Repeat this several times.
Physical Therapists Can Treat Tight Muscles That Are Causing Back Pain
Physical therapists are familiar with a variety of treatment methods. Many of these methods are commonly used to address back pain, including:
- Therapeutic exercises These exercises are designed to reduce pain and improve function. They do so by seeking to build up your muscle strength and flexibility. One study found that a core stabilization exercise program helped reduce chronic lower back pain by up to 78.6%.
- Manual therapy Physical therapists can also use their hands to reduce muscle tension and pain. When they do, it is known as manual therapy. Soft tissue mobilization is a manual therapy method thats often used to address back pain. It involves your physical therapist using their hands to apply pressure and friction to the targeted area. In turn, this can help break up trigger points and reduce muscle pain.
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What Cause A Muscle To Feel Tight Should I Stretch
I get asked almost daily about muscle tightness or stretching. Stretching has a certain place in our culture thats up there with juice cleanses being the supposed elixir of life. Something tight, or hurting? Stretch it out! Need a morning routine, warm up routine, or cool down routine? Lets throw in some stretching. Have a new injury? Must be from some tight muscles! Right?
Well maybe. As always, the truth is complicated. The sensation of muscle tightness, or needing to stretch a muscle, is actually a complex neurological phenomenon. The brain is constantly trying to interpret millions of pieces of incoming data from the body, sent up through the peripheral nerves and spinal cord. It then subconsciously has to make sense of all of that information, and either disregard it, or use it to try to motivate a conscious action. The sensation of muscle tightness or a need to stretch comes about in response to stimulus from the body, and it gets you to pay attention to the area in question, and then move it around. This is sometimes completely appropriate. For example, if youre all cooped up on an airplane or sitting for a while at a desk, the sensation of needing to stretch will motivate you to get up, move around, and get some blood flow. This can avoid blood clots, arms or legs falling asleep, occlusion of blood flow to nerves, etc. all good things!
Lets dig in.
First, some basic terminology and biomechanics:
How To Deal With A Stubborn Stiff Muscles In Back Pain Caused By Sitting Hunching Position
If youâve ever had stiff muscles in your back caused by sitting for an extended period of time, you know how frustrating and downright debilitating this can be.
Sitting for long periods of time causes the spine to lengthen and put pressure on discs that are supposed to cushion the interior of the vertebrae.
In addition, prolonged sitting can put constant stress on the ligaments, tendons, and muscles of the lumbar region.
You donât have to let your stiff muscles in back pain go untreated.
There are many things you can do at home to reduce the amount of pain you feel.
First of all, avoid sitting for prolonged periods of time. If you must sit, try to do so on a floor that is less likely to flex.
- Also, it is important to get plenty of exercise each day. If you do not actively engage in physical activity, you may not be getting the most out of your day.
- Try lifting weights, doing cardiovascular exercise, or going for a run.
- If you have already been active on a daily basis, try reducing the amount of time you spend in front of a computer.
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Tight Quads Pull The Pelvis Down
There is nothing like pain or injury to expand your medical vocabulary. But doing so may help you to better understand your condition and communicate with your healthcare provider.
Start with the quadriceps, which are the big muscles in the front of your thigh. One of the four muscles that belong to this groupthe rectus femorisattaches to the pelvis at a place called the anterior superior iliac spine .
This means the rectus femoris is the only one in the quadriceps group that crosses over your hip joint .
Think of your ASIS as the front part of your hip bone. The ASIS is a place you can actually touch.
When the quads get really tight, they pull on the hip bone. The the pelvis tips downward, or forward.
You may know that the spine wedges in between the two halves of the pelvis. So it should make sense that if the pelvis tilts forward, the lumbar spine may react by going into an arch.
A bigger arch in the lower backcalled excessive lordosisoften causes tightened back muscles.
Another Exercise That You Can Do Is The Hanging Leg Raise Exercise
- To do this exercise you must first lie on your back and then raise your legs up so that your body forms a straight line.
- To do this, you must keep your knees bent while keeping your hips flexed. Once you have raised your legs to your chest level, then you should bend at the elbow and slowly lower yourself down. This will stretch both the hamstrings and the hip flexors.
- To relieve lower back pain through stretching you need to stretch out your hamstring muscles and the gluteus medius.
- To stretch out the hamstring muscles you should first lie on your back and then raise your legs up to your chest level.
- Then you should bend at the elbow and slowly lower yourself down.
- For the gluteus medius exercise you need to lie on your back and then raise your legs up to your chest level. Then you should bend at the elbow and slowly lower yourself down. This will stretch out this muscle and help alleviate lower back pain.
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One Of The Most Common Is Called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
When a person has had a frightening experience that caused them severe pain or even an injury that required surgery, the bodyâs natural response is to protect and rest the injured area.
This rest doesnât allow the muscles in the back to heal properly and as a result can lead to atrophy in the back and sometimes in the neck as well.
The problem is that not all cases of back pain due to these discs require surgery to eliminate the problem.
How To Prevent And Treat Tight Hamstrings
Preventing hamstring tightness is pretty straightforward. However, it can be more difficult if you have a desk job or find yourself sitting for several hours out of the day. Typically prevention refers to strengthening rather than stretching. The best exercises for avoiding tight hamstrings include those that strengthen your core muscles and quadriceps. Planks and leg extensions are examples of exercises that will strengthen those muscle groups aiding in the prevention of hamstring tightness. Stretches that focus on your hamstrings, hip flexors, lower back, and calves will dramatically increase hamstring flexibility and reduce tightness. Foam rolling your hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves will help in your stretching routine. This will also promote good blood flow and help to break up the fascia surrounding your muscles allowing them to stretch more completely. If stretching and exercise dont work there are always therapy modalities such as massage, chiropractic care, and physical therapy which will help you get the rest of the way there.
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This Means Taking All Your Stress Off Your Back And Having Some Gentle Exercise To Loosen And Release Your Stiff Muscles In The Back
This can include sitting on a stability ball, getting a massage, or just taking a nice long walk around the block.
- This will involve you sitting down and crossing your legs over one another.
- You will then want to slowly stretch out the opposite leg and front leg.
- You will repeat this stretch several times.
- This will really work the hamstrings because they are stretched out to the max and then relaxed.
- This will release any tension.
Are Tight Hip Flexors Contributing To Your Low Back Pain
Friday, Jul 15, 2016
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What Is Back Pain
Back pain actually refers to a group of injuries or disorders that can cause pain in the back area. Back pain may occur anywhere along the back. It may be bone or muscle related pain. The pain may be focused in one area of the back or may radiate to other areas. Pain in the back can take many forms and have many causes. Back pain is more than just pain in the back it has underlying causes that must be addressed to reduce the pain. Failure to correct the underlying causes can lead to chronic back problems and continued back pain.
Physical Therapies To Try At Home
You can call physical therapy a blanket term for any form of physical treatment. With massages, hot and cold therapy, and exercises, you can easily fight pain in the lower back.
It is not easy to perform a massage on the lower back yourself, so find a helper. The process of massaging does not have to be super complex even a simple kneading will suffice. Supplement your massages with a topical ointment for relieving any pain.
Hot and cold therapy, too, is pretty simple. All it involves is applying heat to stiff muscles to help them relax. You then follow this up with a cold treatment with, say an icepack, to tighten and numb them. The continuous relaxation, constriction, and numbing of muscles help rejuvenate them slowly.
Trainers often curate exercise routines to specifically target an increase in lower back core muscles and blood flow. Regular workout activities can improve the stability of your lower back and prevent back pain.
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Back Pain Are Your Muscles Stiff
You can find out from your doctor, the cause of your back pain by spinal discs shrinkage.
Discs are cushiony fat-filled sacs that lie between the intervertebral discs and the spine, serving as shock absorbers for the spine.
In case of disc shrinkage, the discs become compressed and lose their cushioniness which forces the spinal bones to dig into the discs, putting pressure on them and making them swell.
This can cause back pain and disc problems if not addressed immediately. Discs shrinkage can also be caused by poor posture, muscle tension, age, and muscle weakness. A ruptured disc can also cause back pain, but this is generally associated with degenerative disc diseases, ruptured intervertebral disc, and spinal stenosis.
If spinal discs become swollen due to injury, degenerative disc disease, or spinal stenosis, it can be excruciatingly painful. Back pain is usually felt on just one side of the body, even if it radiates down the entire back. Some people also feel numbness, tingling, or weakness near the shoulder blades, lower back, buttocks, or legs, while others feel weakness or numbness only in the feet or hands. Though these symptoms are quite debilitating, they can be relieved without surgery.
By strengthening core abdominal muscles, stretching hamstrings, and strengthening back muscles, a person can keep his spine aligned while maintaining good posture.
How Fix Lower Back Pain Fast
Remedies to Relieve Lower Back Pain Exercise to Loosen Muscles. Although it may seem counterintuitive to exercise when lower back pain is causing you grief, the right kind of movement can help eliminate the discomfort. Use Hot/Cold Treatments. Stretch More. Get Better Shoes. Reduce Your Stress. Get Better Sleep.
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How Can Tight Muscles Result In Back Pain 5 Reasons Why
No matter who you are, we can all relate to back pain. One common cause of back pain is tight muscles. But, how can stiff or tight muscles cause back pain?
With so many different things possibly being the cause of muscle tension, there could be a chance that your stiff muscles are the reason you’re experiencing back pain.
Another Great Yoga Pose That Is Often Used To Help With Back Pain Is Parsvottanasana
This pose is sometimes called âreesence yoga,â because it allows you to stay in the poses without really moving your muscles.
It can be very relaxing and help you ease back pain by allowing you to stay still and feel your muscles working.
The deep breathing associated with this pose helps to relieve congestion in the lungs, allowing for more oxygen to get to the muscles and tendons.
If these types of yoga for lower back pain do not alleviate your back pain or if you already have a lot of back pain, you may want to try a back massage while you are doing yoga.
This will allow you to be in better control of your body, allowing you to relieve yourself of any strain or tightness that you may be experiencing.
The more control you have over your body, the easier it will be for you to be able to move comfortably and effectively while doing yoga.
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Should I Run With Back Pain
Running or jogging is a great way to stay healthy, and a great way to get a workout when going to the gym isnt an option. But what if running hurts your back? Or what if your back hurts when youre done? Why does this happen?
Between long commutes in the car, long days in the office, and binge-watching our favorite shows on Netflix, we tend do more sitting than our bodies are built to do. Sitting for long periods of time increases the pressure on the discs in your spine, causes the muscles in your upper and lower back to lose strength, and can decrease the supply of nutrients to your spinal tissue.
Avoiding back stiffness and pain from prolonged sitting can be allayed by sitting with the correct posture and performing a few basic movements and stretches to keep your muscles working. Roll your shoulders back with the ears over the shoulders and the upper arms parallel to your torso. While sitting in an office chair try to avoid constant use of the backrest and sit upright to activate your core muscles.
How Do These Stretches Help
Of course, these stretches can help loosen tight muscles in the spinal column. However, that is not all there is to it. They can even make your muscles more supportive and reduce the load on your lower back.
Stretches rea the best way to increase both blood flow and muscle tissue strength. If you suffer from lower back pain or muscle stiffness, these exercises can provide immediate relief. Not only are they beneficial for curing flare-ups, but they can also prevent future problems.
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When Should I Worry About A Stiff Back
First off, if the pain was sharp, sudden, and accompanied by a popping sound at the time of impact or movement, you’ll need to see a physician quickly. There may be more than muscle tightness going on.
Persistent back pain that lasts more than a week at a moderate to severe level should be evaluated. Light to moderate back pain that accompanies workouts can be normal, as your goal is to create small tears in muscles to force more muscle to grow.
However, if the pain becomes chronic, lasting more than a few weeks, or reoccurs with frequency, the pain should be evaluated. There can be an underlying medical cause for the continued pain.
Pain Caused By Muscle Tension
The tissues of your muscles are actually created from cells that contract and expand. These movements in the tissues allow for you to move. These long and slender fibers are fed by your circulation system, which helps bring nutrients to them. Along with these tissues are nerves, which send electrical signals to your muscles when you need to move.
These nerves also send signals to your brain, signaling their status, health, or damages. When they are damaged, they will send word to your brain, and your brain will react accordingly. If a muscle stays damaged, it will tense and tighten, and this will cause the nerves to not get as much information from them. This is why when your muscles are stiff and tight, you have back pain.
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