A Surprising Cause of Back Pain

I imagine if you are reading this blog, you have probably suffered something like low back pain. Low back pain can be caused by all kinds of fun and interesting things, but something I notice very frequently with this type of pain is tight hamstrings. This muscle group is very important for low back health due to what these muscles do for us, and ignoring them can be very perilous! The hamstrings are used to keep our low back stable and will usually act up if our core muscles are not doing their jobs. You don’t need six-pack abs to stop pain, but you should make sure your abdominals are doing their part.

What? It could be my hamstrings?

It’s not a solution for everyone’s symptoms without a proper examination, but here are some of the first things I think about when I suspect someone’s low back pain is being caused by tight hamstrings.

  • Low back feels like it is tight no matter what you are doing. This does not always mean pain in the low back. This includes sitting or standing, but I notice it is especially noticeable with bending left or right while standing up.
  • If you feel a tightness behind the knee or at the bottom of the butt when you bend over to touch your toes. These are the attachment points for the muscles and will commonly feel a “yanking” type of sensation if they are especially tight.
  • Have difficulty straightening out the knee when sitting. If you are sitting and notice you can not put your leg straight on something like a footrest this means the muscle is so tight that your leg is having difficulty moving through its entire range of motion.

These are just a few simple everyday type movements and indicators that give a solid, overall view of what could be causing your low back to move improperly. If hamstrings are too tight for too long, it will inevitably cause stress on the low back that can cause the discs to move improperly and bulge, or eventually lead to bony changes like arthritis as your body tries to overcome your movement difficulty.

Managing tight hamstrings

Here are some of my favorite ways to manage tight hamstrings.

Basic Hamstring Stretch

Sit on your butt and put your leg out straight in front of you as best you can. If that alone causes your hamstring to feel stretched then that is a great place to start! Once you feel like you can get your leg straight, lean forward with your torso to get a deeper stretch or reach for your toes. It’s a very simple and effective stretch, but you just have to make sure you do it at least once a day for at least 30 seconds until your back feels like it is loosening up.

Planks

Go onto the ground and hold yourself straight while in a pushup position. If this is too difficult you can go down on your knees to make it easier. Core work is a great way to improve the overall strength of the entire body, but the pelvis is especially sensitive to an inactive core. Hamstrings control the pelvis from the other side and will have the opportunity to relax once the abdominal muscles start to help share the load.

Hamstring Stretch with Massage Gun

Lay on your back in a door opening. Put one of your legs onto the wall and get it as straight as possible as you try and get your butt as close to the wall as you can. Then, use a massage gun to vibrate the back of your hamstring while you stretch it out. A tight hamstring will be especially sensitive, so make sure you are careful and don’t hurt yourself! Once you do that for 30 seconds to a minute, switch legs and do it again.

These are what I recommend to almost all of my patients that come in with lower extremity based low back pain. Give these stretches a shot and see what works for you and what you don’t like. Knowledge is power as they say!

Message me or talk to me next time you are in the office if you have questions!