This video, I'm going to show you how to fix hamstring pain
for good. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
some easy exercises that can give quick and long-lasting
pain relief for the hamstring muscle. That big muscle on the
back part of the leg. When it becomes strained and inflamed,
you can pretty much give pain that runs the whole backside of
the thigh and it usually comes about from tightness and
weakness in the muscle itself. So, I'm going to go over
different exercises that are going to help with this. Each
one of them works a little bit differently. So, if you want
the best result, go through them all and use what gives you
the most relief. Definitely don't miss the last one too
because it's going to focus on strengthening the hamstring
which by far is the most important thing to do. So, this
first one is going to be a blend of a self massage and an
active stretch to give quick relief. It's perfect to do
throughout the day anytime that you either need instant relief
or you just start to feel tightness or pain starting to
build on the back part of the leg. What we need is a round
soft object like a tennis ball handball, anything like that.
If you don't have one, no big deal. Just roll up some socks
instead. You could probably even use your hand that may
work. We just need a flat elevated surface that's going
to be high enough that our legs and feet are not going to touch
the floor. So, the edge of a bed works perfectly or a chair.
So, what you're going to do is start off by taking your
object, your ball right here and placing it right over the
spot of pain. Maybe you just have a big muscle knot going
on. You're then going to use your leg to press into the ball
to the point where you're going to get a good self massage but
not causing any agonizing pain. What I like to do from there is
just take my hands overlap them and then put them on the top
part of my leg pretty much centered over the ball and
press down in there just a little bit more to take this
one to the next level. What we want to really focus on with
this stretch is not only on engaging the hamstring but also
the quadricep at the top part of the leg. The quadricep or
the quad muscle is an antagonist of the hamstring.
So, as we tighten that muscle, it will help release and relax
the hamstring a little bit more to get better results. So,
before we start, really try to squeeze and engage this
quadricep muscle as much as you can on the top part of the leg.
Once you've done that, what we're going to do is then a
kicking motion, extending the knee upward like this, taking
our toes upward towards the ceiling. This hamstring muscle
is going to become extremely sensitive so only go to your
comfort level. What you want to do is hold this one for about
three to five seconds. You're then going to slowly lower your
foot down like this. Should also take you about three to
five seconds but you just want to actively do this for about
10 to 15 repetitions and then from there, if the tightness is
gone and you're getting a lot of quick pain relief, you're
good to go but you can throw in another set or two if needed
and then from there, just switch over different spots as
needed. So, here's a really good one that you can do at
work or in class. It's really good to do throughout the day
for quick pain relief or just as a way to help prevent it by
keeping the muscle loose. For this one, we just need a chair.
So, to get into position, you're going to sit at the edge
of that chair, have very good upright posture. That means
keeping your back straight as possible. Whatever side that
you're having pain. Let's say it's your right hamstring.
You're going to straighten that leg out at your knee as much as
you can. Take your heel, press it into the floor during this
exercise. Toes are going to be upward towards the ceiling. I
know a lot of people in this position like to do the
classic. Let's try to touch our toes but it's no good. It
really rounds the back, puts strain on it, and can lead to
overstretching in the hamstring. So, here's a much
better way to do that without putting strain on the back or
the hamstring. So, again, what I'm going to do is have very
good upright posture, press your heel into the floor as
much as you can and then tighten that quadricep muscle.
Again, what we just said earlier, when you tighten the
quads right here, it's going to help relax and release the
hamstring just a little bit more. So, once you feel that,
what you want to do is then put your hands on your hips and
then rock your hips and pelvis forward so you're tilting it
forward just like this moving right through the hips the more
that you tilt forward the more that you're going to feel a
deep stretch forming on the hamstring it usually feels
really really good hold this one comfortably for 20 to30
seconds you're going to relax and then you're going to repeat
this one three to five times and with each repetition build
into it just a little bit more if you do want to take one to
the next level, what you can do is again, keeping your back
straight but just lower your chest forward just a little bit
towards the floor. You'll notice that this really will
intensify that stretch. So, again, you can hold this one
for 20 to 30 seconds. Just release it, repeat it three to
five times and I do recommend whatever you do on one side to
do on the other side just to keep everything imbalance. So,
some of the best hamstring pain relief exercises are known as
PNF exercises. PNF exercises help lengthen and strengthen
the leg muscles at the same time for quick and long-lasting
hamstring pain relief and they're pretty easy to do. I'm
going to show two different variations. The first one you
can do standing. The second one you can do lying flat on your
back. For the standing one, what we're going to need is a
flat, sturdy, elevated surface. So, the edge of a chair works
preferably one without wheels, you can also use a staircase. I
do recommend doing this one next to a wall so you can grab
onto it for support if you have or muscle issues. So, whatever
side that you're having pain, let's say it's my right
hamstring. Pull your heel up on that flat surface, toes upward
towards the ceiling. You want to have your back as straight
as possible and tighten the core muscles too during this
exercise just for a little bit more support. The movement
pretty straight forward. What we need to do is mimic flexing
our knee. So, taking our heel towards our bottom, kind of
like a swinging motion just like this but we're going to
resist against that movement with that chair or that so
drive your heel into the chair trying to swing it back towards
your bottom as much as you can you're really going to feel
that hamstring muscles start to fire really focus on feeling it
on the back part of the thigh hold this one for five seconds
you're going to release it and then you want to repeat this
one10 to 15 times with each repetition challenge yourself
just a little bit more from there if you feel like you have
a little bit more energy throw in another set or two but from
there I like to take this one to the next level by now the
quadricep muscle right here on the top part of the leg. Again,
if we can strengthen the quadricep, what it's going to
help do is take stress and tension off of our hamstring
giving a lot of pain relief. So, for this one, let's get
back into our upright position just like this. I'm going to
straighten my knee out as much as I can and from there, I'm
going to start to squeeze my quadricep muscle to engage it.
Once we feel that muscle engage, what I want to do is
now lift my heel upward as much as I can. The more that you go
upward, the more that you're really going to feel that
quadriceps start to tighten which is also going to help
release the hamstring at the same time. Five second hold,
you're going to relax, repeat this one 10 to 15 times and
again, with each repetition, challenge yourself to go up
just a little bit more and then from there, just switch to the
other side and repeat to keep everything in balance. So, for
the second variation of the PNF exercise, we're going to start
lying flat on our back right in a doorway. Whatever side that
you're having pain. What you want to do is put that side's
heel right up on the trim and have your bottom here as close
to the door as possible. What you're going to focus on doing
is trying to slide your heel upward towards the ceiling as
much as you can. Straighten your knee out at the same time
and if you're not able to get your knee straight all the way,
do the best you can. The big focus is really feeling it
right here in the back of the hamstring. I'm really feeling a
very deep intense stretch. What you want to do is try to mimic
that kicking motion. Again, trying to bring your heel
downward towards your bottom. So, go towards that initial
stretch and now, take it to the next level by driving the heel
into the frame trying to bring it down towards your heel. That
hamstring is going to fire. Hold this one for about 5
seconds. You're going to relax. On the next repetition, if your
knee is not straight, try to strain it out just a little bit
more and then repeat this 110 to 15 times. Next, we're going
to show a little bit more love to the quadricep to get that
one engage to release the hamstring. So, for this one,
you're just going to keep your leg as straight as possible at
the knee. Put your hands off your side for a little bit more
support and then lift your heel off the trim just like this.
It'll really engage that quadricep muscle. Five-second
hold, you're going to relax and then you're going to repeat
this 110 to 15 times. Again, if you feel like you have a little
bit more energy, throw in another center too and I do
recommend doing this on both sides to keep everything in
balance. So, save the best one for last. This is known as the
hamstring bridge. It's a perfect daily exercise that you
can do in bed that will help lengthen and strengthen the
hamstrings at the same time. So, start off lying flat on
your back in bed or on a floor. Your knees are going to be
bent, your heels are going to press down into the bed or the
floor and your toes are going to be upward towards the
ceiling. Let's tighten the core muscles that is taking the
belly button to the spine and then squeeze the glutes. Once
we're in that position, put your hands on hips and slowly
raise your hips upward towards the ceiling until your body is
in a nice straight line from your knees to your hips to your
shoulders. If you're unable to get into that position, let's
say you can only raise up a little bit because of weakness,
tightness, pain, whatever, do the best you can. Over time,
you should gain strength and flexibility to get into this
position but in this position, I feel a ton of muscles
starting to fire. The core, the back, the glutes, and more
importantly, the hamstrings. You want hold this position for
about 5 seconds. From there, just relax and then repeat this
110 to 15 times. With each repetition, challenge yourself.
Go up just a little bit more and if you do feel like you
have a little bit more energy, throw in another set or two.
Let's focus on taking this one to the next level and
challenging those hamstring muscles just a little bit more.
So, I'm going to add in a hamstring walk with this one.
So, I'm just going to start to walk like this while
maintaining the bridge you're really going to feel the back
of the legs start to fire so go out as far as you can and then
just start to walk back very slowly to the starting position
from there you can just relax take a breather but I try to do
this one nice and slowly for about five to 10 repetitions
really challenge yourself with each repetition also but it's
just a good way to really get some quick pain relief to start
the morning off and hopefully just prevent it through out the
day. If the exercises help, please support the channel by
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have any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching.