Did you know that your hamstring muscle could be contributing to your back pain? With it being so commonplace to sit for long periods of time tight hamstrings can be a common occurrence. If you are not aware of the tightness, then it can wreak havoc with your back pain.
Your powerful hamstring muscle is made up of three different muscles – the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and the biceps femurs. The top portion of these muscles attach onto your pelvis and the ligaments that cover the sacroiliac joint. If these muscles are tight then tension distributes into the sacroiliac joint; which can cause low back pain.
When you are sitting with straight posture and you go to straighten out your knee are you able to straighten it out all the way? Can you feel it pulling in your back? If you cannot straighten your knee completely and you feel it pulling in your back then your hamstring is contributing to your back pain. Tightness in one area only distributes tightness to another area and I know you do not want more tightness in your back if it hurts like crazy already.
There are many ways to stretch this muscle but right now I am going to give you the simplest way. Sit nice and straight with support on your back if you can. Straighten out your knee just like you had done to check if it was tight to begin with. Take a strap or a towel and place it beneath your foot and pull to straighten your knee a bit more. Hold this position for 30 seconds. It takes 15 seconds for a muscle to give in to a stretch so that allows adequate time for the muscle to accommodate to the stretched position for the full 30 seconds. Do 3 repetitions on each side for best results.
If you are doing this stretch and not noticing any improvement in your back pain or the flexibility of your hamstring, it is likely that the problem is stemming from your sacroiliac joint. If the sacroiliac joint is not tracking properly, then it will affect the muscles that are attached to the pelvis. The hamstring muscles happens to attach to the pelvis. Remember earlier I had mentioned that the hamstring muscle attaches to the ligament covering the sacroiliac joint? If that sacroiliac joint is dysfunctional it will affect that ligament and that will affect the hamstrings – it is like a domino effect.
If the problem is stemming from your sacroiliac joint then no worries. My book Free My Back details how the sacroiliac joint contributes to back pain and what can be done to solve this dysfunction. I have found there to be 7 steps for resolution of chronic back pain and one of them is retraining the sacroiliac joint to move properly. I outline how to do this step by step in chapter 4. Today is your lucky day because I am offering the E-Book version for free for a limited time. Click here to get access to a free downloadable E-Book of Free My Back. Check it out now and resolve your chronic back pain today!
Blessings,
lisamariekeller 