Tight Hamstrings: What Causes Them and Easy Ways To Fix Them

Are you dealing with tight hamstrings? If so, you’re not alone. Tight hamstrings are a common problem that affects athletes and non-athletes alike and can be caused by several factors. You’ve probably heard a lot of advice about stretching, but there’s often a deeper issue at the root of your tightness.

In this post, we’ll discuss the culprits behind tight hamstrings so you can resolve the root of the issue, and share some quick and easy tips for relieving the discomfort and improving your flexibility. We’ll discuss why traditional approaches may not give you the relief you’re looking for, and provide some simple exercises and stretches that can help effectively reduce the tension in your hamstrings. So grab your foam roller, and let’s begin!

What Are Tight Hamstrings?

Tight hamstrings are defined as an excessive shortening or tightening of the muscles at the back of your thighs. This shortening or tightening can cause a range of symptoms such as knee pain, low back pain, or hip pain; muscle spasms or cramps in these areas could also be possible. This condition can limit your range of motion in certain activities such as running, jumping, and squatting, and can even cause collateral injuries to other parts of your body.

Causes of Tight Hamstrings

There are a variety of causes for tight hamstrings, and not all of them obvious. People who tend to sit or stand for prolonged periods of time often experience this type of muscle pain. Besides lack of movement, inappropriate or excessive stretching or training regimens can also cause tight hamstrings. Poor posture, medical issues, or age-related changes in connective tissues can be sneaky culprits as well.

Coming from someone who works in an office setting where I sit for multiple hours at a time, I thought that my regular gym sessions were going to be enough to balance the time I spent sitting versus standing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I suffered from extremely tight hamstrings for months, which made my workouts much less enjoyable! I found out that my hips were also tight, so I needed special stretches to loosen both muscles. It wasn’t even that I wasn’t stretching; I was just stretching incorrectly. Read on to see stretches that are particularly done to help with hamstring tightness.

The Anatomy of Hamstrings

It’s important to understand the anatomy of the hamstring muscles to properly understand and resolve tightness and discomfort. The hamstring muscles are located at the back of your upper leg and consist of three muscles: the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. These muscles work together to flex your knee joint and extend your hip joint when you run, walk, jump, or engage in any other physical activity involving movement in that area.

How Hamstrings Function

When you engage in physical activities involving movement around your hip or knee joints (such as running or walking), these three muscles work together to move those joints by contracting and relaxing appropriately for each movement pattern. If any one muscle becomes overactive or underactive due to mechanical imbalances, such as poor posture, then it can lead to an imbalance around the joints which thus creates tightness in the hamstrings.

Stretches and Exercises To Help With Tight Hamstrings

Hamstring Stretches

One of the best ways to loosen your hamstrings is to perform hamstring stretches. First, you will want to warm up your muscles with activity by walking or jogging for 5-10 minutes before stretching. Start by lying on your back, keeping both legs straight but not locked. Place a towel around the ball of one foot, then slowly pull the towel so your leg raises toward your chest until you feel a comfortable stretch in your hamstring muscles. Hold this position for 30 seconds before repeating it with the other leg. Additionally, you can try bent knee hamstring stretches. Place one foot flat on the floor, then bend the opposite knee, bringing it up towards your chest, and hold for 30 seconds before switching sides.

Myofascial Release

Myofascial release (MFR) therapy is a type of deep tissue massage performed by a physical therapist or massage therapist that helps to decrease pain and improve the range of motion in targeted areas of the body like the hamstrings. During an MFR session, heated oil or lotion is used along with gentle, sustained pressure applied to areas that contain myofascial tissue (muscle fascia). This helps to release restrictions and tension in the muscle or connective tissue, which can reduce tightness and allow for improved flexibility.

Light Strength Training

Strength training with your body weight or light free weights is another way to help loosen tight hamstrings and improve flexibility. Try performing exercises such as squats, step-ups, and lunges using a small amount of weight, about 5-10 pounds. Focus on keeping your form correct while performing these exercises and engaging your core muscles while simultaneously pushing off with your legs. This will help to increase some strength while also activating and loosening tight hamstrings over time. Keep the weight light to ensure that you’re working the muscles but not working them so hard that you obtain a hamstring injury.

Foam Rolling

Foam rolling is another great way to release tightness in your muscles, making it a decent, budget-friendly, at-home alternative to MFR therapy. When you roll the foam roller over targeted areas of the body like your hamstrings or glutes, the applied pressure helps release knots and tension points. To foam roll your hamstrings, start by placing the foam roller under one thigh at a time. Press down gently but firmly and roll your thigh muscle up and down until you feel relief from tightness. Keep in mind that you may feel soreness initially.

Dynamic Stretches

Dynamic stretching involves stretching through movement and is another effective way to release tightness in your hamstrings. Try doing active exercises like walking lunges or high knees while moving your arms at the same time. You can also start with simple dynamic stretches such as leg swings (stand on one leg and swing the other back and forth), heel flicks (stand on one leg while bringing the opposite heel up behind your glutes), side-to-side squats (while squatting, step side to side), or lateral lunges (walk sideways while lunging with one leg at a time). This type of active stretching helps to warm up your muscles before more rigorous exercise which can help ease tension in the hamstrings over time when done consistently, as opposed to static stretching, where you simply stretch in place to improve flexibility.