If you’re always stretching your tight hamstrings, you’re chasing the wrong problem!
If you’re constantly stretching, rolling, or massaging your hamstrings but that familiar tight feeling keeps coming back, you’re not alone and it may not be because your hamstrings are “too tight.”
In fact, the muscle you’ve been trying so hard to loosen might simply be reacting to something happening elsewhere in your body.
Once you understand WHY your hamstrings are creating that tension, you can stop endlessly trying to loosen the muscle and start addressing what’s actually driving the problem. Keep reading to find out more!
‘Before you start stretching your tight muscles, you must first understand WHY they are tight’
Why massaging or hamstring stretches only relieve tensions temporarily and don’t fix the issue –
In most cases, tight muscles are an indication of a lack of stability elsewhere in the body and can be a result of postural compensation.
This lack of stability or strength will cause you to use other muscles to support your body in the upright and moving positions, causing some muscles to be tighter.
‘If you are not addressing the reason WHY your hamstrings are tight and only stretching them you will always have tight hamstrings’
How to stop tight hamstrings –
The most important thing to understand about your body is, it works as a unit, there are no unimportant parts! So if an area of the body has tension, soreness, pain, range of motion or imbalance issues, it is due to muscles being over or underused.
I have heard statements like “I can’t touch my toes as I have tight hamstrings” countless times. In this case tight hamstrings is often lack hip mobility so we need to change the range of motion in the pelvis to improve flexibility, we do this by looking and understanding what imbalances are in the rest of the body.
Improving your posture will stop your hamstrings from feeling tight, here’s my top tips –
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Get curious and start looking for any imbalances in your posture, For tight hamstrings a good place to start would be to stand sideways, in front of a mirror and look at your pelvis, lower back and shoulder position in the mirror –
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Do your hips sway forward from your shoulder and ankle?
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Does your lower back look flat? Pelvis tilting posteriorly?
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Do your shoulders round forward?
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Anyone one or all of these imbalances could be causing your tight hamstrings.
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Get working on your imbalances on your own or work with a Posture Alignment Therapist.
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Once your body is in a more aligned position, get moving and get back to doing the things you love.
At Align Your Body, we help clients restore balance in their body and relieve chronic pain and tension, by improving their posture. If you would like to know more, please get in touch for a free consultation, CONTACT US PAGE
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