Hi guys! So, in this video I'm gonna answer a question that quite a few people have
been asking me recently, and that is, “Does foam rolling actually help for tight hamstrings?” Now,
the answer is, “Yes and no,” and I'll explain to you why. So, 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. So, have a look
at the description of this video if you want to link to the website; it's all done via video call.
Good! So, what instances can foam rolling actually help tight hamstrings? Well,
if you've got a bit of muscle tightness from exercise. So, it's quite normal for muscles to
become a bit stiff and more, “in tone” we tend to call it, when you do a lot of exercise, or if
you've just done something that you're not used to. So, in those cases, yep, it can definitely
help to reduce that muscle spasm and improve the flexibility. So, there's some research out there
to show that if you foam roll before you exercise, you can improve your flexibility, and it doesn't
switch the muscles off, like static stretching does. So that's useful, and also afterwards.
Other really useful thing of foam rolling is that it can help reduce the soreness you feel after
exercise. I don't know if you've heard of DOMS – I've made a video about that; have a look at the …
if you search in our channel. So, DOMS is the “delayed onset muscle soreness” that you feel
after you've done a really hard bout of exercise. And what the research is showing is that any type
of massage, including mechanical massage like foam rolling, can help to reduce that soreness.
Now sometimes, despite foam rolling as much as you want or can, your hamstrings
may remain tight. And why would that be? So, there are three main reasons. First is,
you're over-training; you're just training your hamstrings too often and they're not getting time
to recover. So, you've got to remember that if you do a bout of exercise, and especially
exercise that really works one muscle group or that specific muscle group heavily ... So, if
we think of runners, that would be fast running, speed sessions; if we're thinking in the gym, it
would be deadlift-type movements and things that would really work the hamstrings … You need time
for them to recover and rebuild themselves after you strain them with exercise. And if it's a hard
bout, it can take 48 hours to 72 hours to fully recover. So, if you do too many of them in short
succession, your hamstrings may feel constantly tight because they're just not being given time
to recover. And ... If you continue doing that, by the ways, you will end up with an overuse injury.
So, what you may find in instances like that is, you foam roll ... feels better ... a few minutes
later it feels tight again. Second scenario is if you actually have a proper injury. So for
instance, if you have a hamstring strain ... By the ways, don't foam roll those in the first two
weeks; I've made a whole … I'm gonna make a video about that as well; it'll be published probably in
two weeks time. So, have a look … subscribe to the channel if you want a notification when it is …
because foam rolling can actually make hamstring strains and things worse if you do it at the wrong
time. But there's also other conditions like high hamstring tendinopathy. So, foam rolling the belly
of the muscle can make it feel more relaxed for a while, but then it tightens up again, because that
injury is still there. So, foam rolling won't take that away; you've got to actually fix the
injury and get that stronger, then the tightness in the hamstring will go. Now, the third reason
is, if you've got nerve irritation, like sciatica – that's what people typically call it – and that
can be down to back pain, it can be due to your piriformis muscle or muscles in the bum that's
quite tight and just holding onto the nerve. But if you've got a nerve that's irritated,
you can foam roll and stretch those hamstrings as much as you want, they will not let go.
You need to address the problem higher up, for the reason why the nerve is irritated,
for the hamstrings to then settle down. There may be other injuries and things that can cause
it to feel like that as well – I’ve only kind of called out the most obvious ones. So yes,
foam rolling can sometimes be useful if it's pure just due to muscle tone increase in the
muscles that's a little bit more tight than what they should be. But if it's an over-training,
injury, or sciatica type thing, it's not really going to be that useful.
So remember, if you have any questions, you're welcome to message me in the comments.
But if you want more help with an injury, you're always welcome to consult one of us
via video call – the link to the website is in the description of this video. Take care!