In this video, I'm going to show you how to instantly fix
muscle pain on the back of your thighs. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
easy exercises that can give both quick and long-lasting
relief for muscle pains on the back of the thigh including
over the hamstrings. A note about these exercises, they
each work just a little bit differently. To get the best
results, go through them all, use what gives you the most
relief. As a bonus, all of the exercises can be done at home
require no special equipment and you may find get quick
muscle pain relief even within 30 seconds. So, with that being
said, let's get started. So, let's start by focusing on a
big cause of pain on the back of the thigh which is a build
up of muscle tightness and tension that can lead to
spasms, knots, and trigger points. Here's a really easy
self massage that can help release those and give relief
within seconds. For this one, we just need something soft and
round. A tennis ball works perfectly but you can also use
something like a lacrosse ball, handball, racquetball. If you
don't have any of those roll ups, large socks into a ball,
it should work. So, if you do have a lot of muscle pain, I
would recommend doing this on a softer surface so the edge of a
bed works also the edge of a couch. If you want something a
little bit more intense, go more for a hard surface like
the edge of a chair. So, this is really straightforward. What
we're going to do is we're going to take our ball and
place it right over the spot on the thigh that you're having a
lot of pain like let's say it's right here for me. You're just
going to center it over that spot and then slowly press your
leg downward to create pressure over that spot. Only go to the
point where it's comfortable not causing any discomfort. We
want a comfortable self massage. Once we feel that,
we're then going to overlap our hands like this, put it over
the top of our thigh pretty much right over that spot and
slowly press our leg down to intensify it just slightly.
From here, what we want to focus on doing is actually
relaxing the hamstring or the back of the leg by tightening
the top of the leg, the quadriceps, and the hamstrings
are antagonist of each other so as one tightens the other one
will release that way we can take this one to the next level
dig into those muscle fibers a little bit more and get some
more relief so I'm just going to press in there till it feels
very comfortable and now what I'm going to do is extend my
knee that is bringing my foot up like this what you want to
do is really focus on activating this top muscles on
the top of your thigh the quadriceps so once you feel
that what you're going to do is then hold this comfortably for
five seconds and I know it can be very very intense so build
into it slowly and then from there you're just going to
relax by bringing your foot down like this I like to do
this one for about five complete repetitions and with
each repetition I progressively press down into the ball a
little bit more to dig into those muscles afterwards see
how you feel if it feels like there's some tightness that
still needs to be released you can throw in as many
repetitions as you like if it feels pretty good what you can
do from there is just switch over any spot including going
over to the other side and repeating until everything is
nice and loose so if you do have one certain spot that just
won't release maybe there's just a really big pocket of
muscle tightness in there this is how we can take it to the
next level so I'm going to take the tennis ball and place it
right above the spot that I'm having muscle pain maybe
there's like a big muscle not right here over my hamstrings
so place it just above that spot what you're going to do is
press into it with our leg until it's comfortable. Take
your hands this time around and put them off to your side. What
you're going to focus on doing is using your body weight now
to roll up and down over that spot just like this. Let the
ball glide over and it generally feels really really
good. I like to do this roughly for about 10 seconds and
afterwards, see how I feel. Again, if it feels like it
needs a little bit more, throw some more repetitions in and
progressively try to drive this leg further into the ball as
you do this to dig into those muscle fibers you can also do a
side to side movement like this so place it off to the left of
that muscle spasm that you're having and go left to right it
just attacks the muscle fibers a little bit differently you
can also do circular motions like this diagonally but I
would experiment with it go through all of those motions
and if anything works out a little bit better at that point
throw more repetitions in so this next exercise is called
hamstring flossing a also serves as a really good way to
stretch the sciatic nerve pathway in the thigh. So, if
you're dealing with sciatica in the back of your thigh, give
this one a try. We're going to start lying on our back. You
can do this one in bed or on a floor. Have your knees bent,
feet flat. Whatever side that you're having leg pain. Let's
say it's your left side. You're going to take your hands, place
them right behind the knee just like this. Grab on to the back
of your thigh. You're then going to slowly pull your knee
towards your chest. What you want to is a gentle stretch
forming in the glutes that then works its way into the back of
the thigh. The key with this exercise, we only want a light,
gentle stretch to start off with. If you feel it's very
deep and intense back off slightly. From here, we're not
going to hold this position and then extend our knee. So, it's
kind of like straining it like this bringing our foot up
towards the ceiling. Go up until you feel a really good
stretch form in the back of your thigh. Again, we don't
want a super deep intense stretch. It should very gentle.
Once you feel that, we're again going to hold this position and
now add in our flossing motion to take this one to the next
level. So, imagine pressing into a gas pedal. You're just
going to press your foot and toes away from you as much as
you can. You should feel a very deep stretch forming in the
calf that works its way down into the back of the thigh.
Usually feels really really good. Hold this for a second or
two and then what you're going to do is then bring your toes
back towards you like this to engage the muscles just a
little bit different. Again hold this for a second or two
but keep doing this over and over again for five to 10
repetitions in both directions afterwards relax take a
breather you then want to repeat this whole complete
cycle for three to five times and with each repetition you're
going to notice the muscles just have a little bit more
give to them they're going to start to lengthen and at this
point you can build into it just a little bit more with
each repetition afterwards see how you if it feels pretty
relaxed and pretty good you're good to go but I do recommend
doing this on both sides just to keep everything imbalance so
here's a quick and easy way to get thigh pain relief pretty
much anytime anywhere including at work we can do this one
seated in a chair I know a lot of people like to do the
classic put your leg out in front of you try to touch your
toes type stretch to really hit the hamstrings but it's
actually not the greatest exercise because it tends to
the back which can lead to irritation and it doesn't
target those muscles that efficiently. So, here's a
better way to do it. So, whatever side that you're
having thigh pain. Let's say it's your right side.
Straighten your knee, press your heel down into the floor
as much as you can until you feel a gentle activation of the
leg muscles. Toes are going to be straight up towards the
ceiling. What we're going to do is hold this position, have our
back nice and straight, and put our hands right on our hips.
What we're going to focus on doing is rocking our hips and
pelvis forward. So, we're creating an anterior pelvic
tilt. The more that you rock those hips forward, the more
that you're going to feel those muscles in the back of the
thighs start to engage including the hamstrings. It
usually feels really really good. It's a great stretch.
Hold this comfortably for 5 seconds. You're going to
release it and then you're going to repeat this five to 10
times and with each repetition, try to build into it just a
little bit more and then afterwards, I do recommend
switching to the other side and repeating just to keep
everything in balance. So, this is how you can take this
exercise to the next level and engage some more muscles
especially if you have a lot of back pain. So, let's get back
into our original stretch like this but this time around, I'm
going to hold this position, take my hands off my hips, and
put them straight upward towards the ceiling like this
and then, I'm going to tilt my body away from that side. So,
if it's my right leg, I'm going to tilt my back towards the
left. This will help open up the side a little bit more. You
should feel a really good stretch from the bottom of the
ribs into the lower back towards the hip. Again, hold
this for five seconds and then relax. Give that one a try.
Another movement that you can do is a rotational stretch. So,
let's get back into our original stretch. Put our arms
out in front of us just like this kind of like a genie
position and I'm going to rotate my back towards the
other side. So, I'm rotating towards the left holding that
for 5 seconds. You can also rotate towards the side of pain
this one too. So, go through all of those movements. If one
helps out a little bit more, at that point, throw more
repetitions in, just make sure to do this on both sides to
keep everything in balance. So, here's an exercise that is
perfect to do daily especially if you have chronic muscle pain
in the back of your thighs. It's called the hamstring
bridge and it's going to focus more on strengthening muscles
to give long-lasting relief. Great part is you can do this
one in bed or on a floor. Just start off lying flat on your
back this. Let's begin with the bridge first. We're going to
have our legs roughly hip width apart, knees bent, feet flat.
Brace or tighten your core muscles by taking your belly
button towards your spine and also squeeze your glutes. This
will help support the back just a little bit more. You can take
your hands, put them on your hips or off to your side for
support. The first movement pretty straight forward. We're
just going to lift our hips upward towards the ceiling like
this until our body is in a nice straight line from our
knees to our hips to our shoulders. If you're unable to
get into this position either due to pain or weakness, like
let's say you can only go up an inch or two, do the best you
can. Hopefully, over time, you'll gain strength and
flexibility to get into this position but you should feel a
ton of muscles start to fire. The core, the lower back, and
also the glutes, and the legs but this is how we're going to
take it to the next level and really focus on the hamstrings
and the back of the thigh. We're going to hold this
position and now press our heels into the better of the
floor and point our toes upward the ceiling and now we're just
going to walk our heels out slowly like this straightening
our legs as you do this you're really going to feel the
muscles on the back of your thighs start to engage so do
the best you can take a breather and then repeat this
whole cycle about five to 10 times and really challenge
yourself to walk out as much as you can afterwards if it feels
like you have a little bit more energy you can always throw in
as many repetitions as you like but this is a daily
strengthening exercise that you can do right in bed that can
give long-lasting relief. If the exercises help, please
support the channel by giving this video a like and maybe
subscribing too. If you have any comments or questions,
please leave them below. I'll get back to you as soon as I
can. Thanks for watching.