Hello, All! And welcome to the 10 muscle movement series, today is part two and we are going
to talk about the Hamstring muscle. Now, very often in the clinic people have asked me why
do I even need to stretch my hamstrings when my problem is in the pelvic floor, here's
the reason. I have a pelvic model right here, and if you see, these two bones right here,
are the sit bones, so, these are the bones that you feel when you sit on a chair, or
any surface, so, if you think about it, your hamstring muscles starts from the back of
your knee and it goes up to attach right there on your sit bones, and if you see your pelvic
floor is really really close to the sit bone, so if your hamstring muscles are tight, very
often the pelvic floor is not able to perform at its optimal capacity, that's the whole
reason why we need to stretch the hamstring muscles so let's learn 5 effective stretches
that we are going to do today, that will release your hamstrings and are safe for your pelvic
floor.
So, before we begin with the exercises, there are two important things that I would like
you to know, one is that the hamstring muscle is made up of two different parts, one part
is the medial hamstring muscle which attaches from the inside of your thigh and to the back
of your knee, and the other is the lateral hamstring muscle, that attaches to the outside
of the knee, the second thing is, you need to know what muscle action does the hamstring
do, the hamstring is the primary flexor, that means it bends your knee and at the same time
it also helps you extend your hip, so when we stretch we want to make sure that we are
extending the knee and bending the hip, that means we are doing the opposite of what the
muscle does, so that we are able to stretch the muscle.
As we begin our first exercise, I would like to mention that this is one of the easiest
exercises to do for all of us as it is very effective to stretch your hamstrings, and
at the same time, very safe for your pelvic floor, okay, so for this exercise I would
like you to get like a tennis ball, or any ball that's firm, you're going to need a chair
that you're going to sit on, and let's learn what to do, so, in the first step you are
going to take the ball and place it under your hamstring muscle, you are going to start
from the middle of the hamstring, and lay the weight of your leg on the ball, now, you
are going to start sliding the ball from side to side, now, hold the ball stationary, and
now you are going to extend the knee and bend the knee, again, extend, and bend, this is
also call an active release of your hamstring, now let's do the same release on the inside
muscle of the hamstring, so let me show it to you on this leg, that way you are able
to see, so I'm placing the ball on the inner hamstring muscle, towards the inside of the
thigh, the ball stays steady, and you are going to extend the knee, and bend the knee,
extend, and bend. Now we are going to select a different spot, again on the medial hamstring,
keep the ball stationary, extend the knee, and bend the knee, extend, and bend. Let's
do the same release on the lateral side of your hamstring, that means the outside muscle
out here, back of the thigh, so let's start from the top, lay pressure on the ball, make
sure that the ball doesn't roll over, extend the knee, bend the knee, extend, bend, keep
going, extend, bend, and extend, bend, good. Slowly take the ball off, so this is exercise
one, and it helps you release the myofascia connections, that means the soft tissue connections
in between the hamstring muscle, making your muscle ready for further stretches.
Let's begin with exercise number two, in this exercise all you are going to need is a small
chair, which is stable, so, in the first step you are going to face the chair, make sure
your shoulders are facing the chair, and you are going to gently put one heel, on the top
of the chair, now, here's what you need to do, you gotta make sure that your shoulders,
both of your shoulders are facing the toes, and you are facing in the front, make sure
your knee is straight and it's aligned to your toes, so you're not gonna let your leg
plop out or plop in, in the beginning, now, you are going to keep your shoulders rolled
back, shoulder blades pinched, and you are going to gently, hip hinge forward, make sure
that you are not doing this, this can cause back pain, you wanna make sure that you are
hip hinging forward at the same time, pulling your toes towards you, now, this is a generic
stretch that will stretch your hamstring muscles as a whole, you are going to hold it there,
count to ten, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, come back, now, let's modify this stretch,
to stretch the inner part of your thigh, or inner hamstring muscles, turn the leg out
this time, and repeat the same action, shoulder blades back, hip hinging forward, pull the
toes towards you, and hold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, slowly come back to the center,
now, this time, we are going to roll the leg inwards, that's going to stretch these muscles,
that means the outside muscles of your hamstring group, first step is engage your toes, make
sure you're standing straight, don't hunch, stand straight, make sure your shoulder blades
are engaged, shoulders rolled back, leg is straight and your knee, now turn your leg
in, and bend forward, make sure your shoulders are facing the foot, hold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Up, and slowly, relax. okay, let's repeat the same exercise on the other
side, so now we are going to do it on the left side, again, gently place your left foot
on the chair, make sure that your foot is engaged, you're going to first do this exercise
for the whole hamstring muscle, so, make sure that your shoulders are rolled back, your
heel is places front, you're looking straight, and you are going to now bend forward, hold,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, do not do this, okay? so shoulders back now we are going to
turn the leg out, and we are going to repeat the same procedure, make sure your knee is
straight, your toes are engaged, and we are going to bend forward, hold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, toes in the center, go back to neutral, now you are going to turn the
toes in bend forward, make sure your shoulders are back, you should be able to feel a strong
stretch on the outside, the hamstring muscle, or outside the lateral part of your back thigh,
okay? hold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, slowly come back, and get your leg down.
Okay, so now let's learn exercise 3, in this video, you have to make sure that you are
hip hinging, and I'm going to teach you how to, you are going to stand on the side, you
are going to keep some distance between both your feet, so I'm keeping on about shoulder
amount distance on my feet, now, when you are going to go forward, you are going to
make sure that you keep your shoulder blades engaged, okay, so when you bend forward, you
are going to keep your back engaged, your shoulder blade engaged, and gently bend forward,
when I tell you to, so now, in this stretch we are going to keep slightly, or maybe significantly
bent in the beginning, we are going to go down, with our shoulder blades and back engaged,
you see how my back and shoulder blades are in a straight line, correct? and now, from
this position you are going to gently, straighten your knees to feel that stretch behind your
thigh muscles, hold there, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and slowly bend your knees
extend your back and come back. so, never do this, when you are doing your hamstring
stretch because in that case you are actually over extending or over stretching your back
and nothing much is happening to your hamstrings, so try this exercise at home, and let me know!
This is again a standing exercise, make sure that you do not overstretch, do what is best
and comfortable to your body, I'm going to show you what works best for my body. So,
what we are going to do is we are going to stand with shoulder width distance between
both of our legs, you could do it with a little more than that, you are going to turn your
left leg out, so this is like a modified triangle pose that you do in yoga, but we are going
to modify it to your hamstrings to keep it safe, now, you are going to extend your arms,
and you are going to make sure that you stretch to the side, and we are going to reach reach
reach reach, make sure that you reach your furthest and slowly tip over, make sure that
your right shoulder is rolled back, you look up, and you feel a nice but safe stretch in
your hamstring muscle, hold there, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, slowly come back, turn
your foot in, and let go. Alright, so now, let's do it on the right side, you are going
to again, open up your legs slightly more than shoulder width's apart, make sure that
your right foot is turned out, arms extended, make sure you reach out to the side, reach
reach reach, slowly tip over, make sure that you turn your left shoulder up, look up, you
should feel a comfortable stretch in your hamstrings, keep working on your hamstring
muscle, you should not feel any excessive stretch or pain, look up, hold there 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, come up, arms down, that's exercise 4.
Let's learn exercise 5, this is slightly interesting, so you need to go down on the floor, so I
have put like a yoga mat on the floor, make sure you have something that feels comfortable
on your knee when you are in this position, let's begin. I'm standing on my left knee
facing the front, and all I'm going to do is put my hands down for support, do so if
you need to, extend your leg, now, right now I'm not going to hold my hands down, I'm going
to stand up tall as tall as I can get, point the toes towards me, and I'm going to try
and sit back down with my hips, on the left heel, so this is just a movement that can
be good enough to stretch your hamstrings and muscles, hold it there, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, you should feel a nice and comfortable burn in the hamstrings, now let's
try this exercise with your toes out, and try to sit back down, for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10, you'll feel a nice stretch on the outside of your hamstrings, when you do
this, and now turn the foot in, move forward, and stretch, make sure that you are not hunching
your back, shoulders back, I have to remind myself too, sit back, hold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Let's do it on the other side, other foot forward, make sure your toes are
engaged, and you will feel different stretches on each side, so, one hamstring may be tighter
than the other, and that is totally normal, so you are going to engage your toes, make
sure you sit back, leg is engaged, shoulders blades back, hold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, turn your foot out, again, try to sit back down, hold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, and turn your foot in, try to sit back down, hold, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
slowly turn your foot to the center, take your foot back. So there we are, we just learned
the 5 most effective and safe stretches for pelvic floor that focus on your hamstring
muscles, this is the level 2 or the part 2 of the 10 muscle movement series that we are
doing, if you missed our first one, go back and watch our first calf stretch series, I
have attached the link right here, if you find the stretches that we did today useful
and effective, don't forget to share them with your friends, like and subscribe to our
channel, I will be coming back with the third muscle group in the 10 muscle movement series
that we are doing for the exercises that will be safe and effective to your pelvic floor.
I'm Dr Amruta Inamdar, from Pelvic Rehab Doc, I will be looking forward to answer all of
your questions and comments that come on this video, I look forward to see you next week,
with another video, focusing on a different muscle group. See you there!