In this video, we're going to look at foam rolling the hamstrings. Firstly, we're going to look at
when won't it actually work to foam roll your hamstrings, and also when you should likely not be
foam rolling your hamstrings. Then we're going to look at when will it be useful? When can it really
help make your hamstrings feel more comfortable? And then finally, we're going to look at what's
the ideal way to foam roll your hamstrings, and I'll also give you a demonstration.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Maryke. I'm one of the physiotherapists from
sports-injury-physio.com, where you can get online physiotherapy assessment as well as treatment for
your injuries. Have a look at the description of this video if you want a link to our website.
Why should you sometimes not be foam rolling your hamstrings? Or why would foam rolling it not make
it feel better? So, the first reason there is, if your hamstring discomfort or the tightness
you're feeling there is actually coming from your lower back or the pain you feel in it is sciatica,
then it may not help to foam roll your hamstrings, because actually the problem is being referred
from another location. And also, if you have a really sensitive sciatic nerve, which is
the thick nerve that runs down the back of your leg, if you put pressure on that and massage it,
it may actually make it flare up again. So please, if you've got sciatica, be very gentle and make
sure you check with a physio before you try it. Now, also, if you've pulled your hamstring muscle.
Say, for instance, you've been running and, 'Ooh!' you had a muscle pull, please don't foam roll it,
especially not on that same day or within that first week. Because when you pull a muscle, you
actually tear some of the muscle fibres, and that area is really sensitive and quite fragile. So,
if you go and hammer it with a foam roller, you will likely make it worse. When can it be useful
to foam roll your hamstrings? So, you know that normal muscle tightness you develop after a
training session? It can be really useful to help release that muscle tension you feel,
and it's nice and safe for that as well. And the research also shows that it can
help reduce the pain or discomfort you feel the day after a hard training session. So, you know,
DOMS, or delayed muscle … 'delayed onset muscle soreness' is the fancy name for it? It's when
you've done a hard workout; it's not an injury, it's just that next day, you feel a bit stiff
and sore in your muscles. The research shows that foam rolling can help reduce that a little bit.
What's the ideal way to foam roll your hamstrings? To be honest, there's no gold standard with
regards to this yet. But what they tend to do in the research is, they tend to use either
broad strokes along the muscle, that's kind of like massaging it along the grain of the muscle,
and they tend to spend about two minutes per muscle group. So, two minutes for this leg, two
minutes for that leg. Then, they also use point pressure. So, for instance, if you notice that
you've got specifically sensitive spots, which some people call trigger points, in your muscles,
you can use a massage ball to apply point pressure to those areas, and usually maintain
the pressure for about 30 seconds to 60 seconds, depending on what you find is effective to help
that discomfort dissipate. Now, I demonstrate both those techniques and I also point out
what areas around the knee and ankle you should take a little bit care with in the next clip.
Okay, so to foam roll your hamstrings, we're going to use two techniques. We're going to do long,
smooth strokes, and we're also going to do point pressure, for which I tend to use a ball. Oh,
because I'm travelling at the moment, I don't have all the things I used to have with me. But you get
these little blocks, they're called Wellbricks, and they've got a bump like a tennis ball in them.
But because they're a block and they're rubber, they don't move, and they're so handy for this.
But a tennis ball will do if you don't have anything like that. So, let's start with the
broad, smooth rolls. Now, thinking about the anatomy of it all: Your belly of your hamstring
muscle ... remember, there are four muscles, really ... is at the back, in the middle there.
Then, two tendons come around here and attach, two tendons there. Don't go and roll the tendon bit,
because it's literally just tendon and bone in that area, and all you'll do is bruise it. Foam
rolling is mainly for muscle bits, okay? Then, all four hamstrings attach right into the sit bone.
Again, don't hammer the sit bone. You can go quite close to it and right in ... you know, against it.
But don't go and really grind the sit bone itself; you'll just make it sensitive. I'm not very
strong in my upper body, so I tend to like to use my other leg to guide myself. You could do both
legs at the same time on it and roll; I just don't find it that effective. So, I tend to start with
just going down the middle, so, having the leg up there and just doing nice broad strokes.
And you'll notice that I kind of knead a little bit, and then I move on to the next bit;
there's really no rules for this. Now, once I've done a bit of that straight down the middle,
I angle my leg, so I'm turning it halfway out, so that I'm getting the hamstrings that
run on the outside of the leg more. And you'll even start feeling what feels like the IT band
in this, and that's because your lateral quad comes and attaches quite
round that side and there's a bit more fascia, so it's a bit more uncomfortable. So, you just move
along as you go along with it. And then, you can angle the leg in again.
Let me just start from here, otherwise we'll be out of the video soon. So, now I'm turning
my leg in, and I'm getting the inner part of those ... the medial hamstrings more. Also,
getting a little bit of my adductor muscles. And this is probably ... If I do have tight adductors
and it's towards the back of them, I tend to use this method to get them as well. There we go!
So, you can go up and down on that until you feel you've done enough for it, and of course,
do the other side as well. Now, if you've got a specific spot that's quite tender, that feels a
bit like a trigger point, this works really well. I'm using a towel under here to stop the ball from
going out from underneath, so the towel holds onto it. If you've got a nice, squishy mat …
exercise mat, it works really well as well. Mine just crunches at the moment, so it's making a
noise, so I've put it away. But ... Yeah, this is going to work. So, you literally go
onto the spot that you feel is most tender, and you just put your pressure through that, you
can hold it there. Now remember, if you ever get tingling down the leg or anything like that when
you're doing anything for the hamstrings, that's usually a sign that you're annoying your sciatic
nerve, and you probably want to be stopping what you're doing there. So, if you're getting tingling
down your leg with that, just move a little bit that you're not putting the pressure directly on
the nerve, but rather on the hamstring muscle. And you want to hold that pressure for anything
between 30 seconds to 60 seconds for a trigger point to kind of switch off. Now, some people
also find ... Coming really high up, kind of near the sit bone, can be quite useful for them. But
to be honest, I find that's more effective if you do it on a chair, that you’re sitting on
a chair with the legs hanging down, you can get a bit more pressure through that. But remember,
we're not going onto the sit bone, you're just going into the muscley bits close to the sit bone.
And that's how I foam roll and massage my own hamstrings. Hope you found that useful!
Now remember, if you need more help with an injury, you're welcome to consult one of us
via video call – link to the website is in the description of this video. Take care!