Hello Hamstring. Is that you?

Most of us have stretched our hamstrings at some point in our life, or at least we thought we have.

What if I told you that the hamstring stretch you think you are doing, really is not stretching your hamstrings at all.

Hamstring muscleFirst, let me introduce you to the hamstrings. The hamstrings is a group of 3 muscles that work together as a group. They go by the names biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosis.  All three muscles look like long, slender straps. They originate by plugging into your butt bone, yes, that hard bone you feel when you sit on uncomfortable metal bleachers. They then travel down the back of your thigh, pass the knee joint and attach on the upper part of your lower leg bones. Their job is to bend your knee backwards (flexion) and to extend your hip backwards. Also, they slow down your lower leg as you kick it out to plant your foot on the ground when walking or running.

Our hamstrings play a key role with posture; when we have tight hamstrings it causes a reduction in the curve in our low back called posterior pelvic tilt. If we have very flexible hamstrings, it can allow for an increased curvature in our low back called anterior pelvic tilt.

So now that I have introduced you to who the hamstring muscles are, where they live and what they do for jobs. Allow me to introduce a sneaky fellow by the name of “sciatic nerve.” He comes out of the lower part of the spine and he likes to run along the same path as the hamstring muscles. Except portions of the sciatic nerve run all the way down to your feet. Which means, that if you decide that you want to stretch your hamstring muscle group, you are also stretching your sciatic nerve. Why does this matter? Well, if you have a healthy sciatic nerve than it does not matter, but if you have any issues with your sciatic nerve, it should matter a lot.

Unfortunately, as patients are showing me their hamstring stretch it is followed by them saying. “This feels so good, it is stretching down in my calf.  WAIT, WHAT? Down in the calf, but we just went over where the hamstring muscles live and where they run. Their run stops just below the knee, they do not run into the calf.  If your hamstring is the structure being stretched, it should be talking to you from somewhere along the back of your thigh. So if you are feeling a stretch in your calf while doing your hamstring stretch, it is most likely your sciatic nerve talking to you. This is the sciatic nerve’s cry for help, he is yelling, “stop stretching me.” And be careful, he is very easily irritated.

Okay, so who cares if you stretch your sciatic nerve, big deal. Well, honestly, you should. Stretching your sciatic nerve can make it angry, and once it is angry, it is very difficult to calm down. And the next thing you know, it is yelling at you while you are driving, while you are walking, and while you are just sitting around trying to put your feet up and relax. You might just feel an ache running down the back of your leg or it could your entire ankle throbbing. If you have had sciatica, you know what I am talking about.

So if you think you flared up your sciatic nerve while trying to stretch your hamstrings follow this advice:

  1. Stop stretching your hamstrings, because it is not your hamstrings you are stretching
  2. Avoid putting your feet up in a recliner or on a coffee table because that is stretching your angry nerve
  3. Avoid bending over at the waist because this is also stretching your angry nerve
  4. Call Back in Motion for a free physical therapy consult so we can create a plan for mending your relationship with your sciatic nerve.

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By Michael Moras, DPT

Back in Motion Physical Therapy – Portland, Maine

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