To Stretch or Not Stretch My Hamstring

01/09/22 • 7 min

So this is an interesting question and many of you may be wondering WHY wouldn’t I want to stretch my hamstring. Over the past couple of weeks I have seen a couple of posts from people (runners) indicating that they have tight hamstring but all the stretching in the world is not helping. There is a simple answer to this question but requires us to have a little understanding about anatomy.

First what I want you to do is look in the mirror and tell me does your butt stick out or does it kind of disappear (tuck under a bit). This will help us figure out if you have an anterior tilt or a posterior tilt to your pelvis.

Butt sticks out: This means you have an anterior tilt to your pelvis and your hip flexors are the source of the problem. Your hamstring muscles are being pulled into a lengthened position making them tight. So it won’t matter how much you stretch the hamstrings here you need to address the psoas and iliopsoas to help take tension off the hamstrings.

Butt tucks under: This means you have a posterior tilt to your pelvis and once you address the hamstrings through stretch or soft tissue massage you should feel the relief of that muscle group relaxing.

Why is this important? Once you have figured this part out then you can either stretch your hamstring or address your hip flexors. Then the next part is to strengthen the hamstrings. In this video I show you three simple, basic hamstring exercises you can do from the comfort of your home.

Check them out 👇

To Stretch or Not Stretch Your Hamstring

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To Stretch or Not Stretch Your Hamstring

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Previous Episode

Welcome to Fix Your Pain Naturally Podcast

Hi I’m Dr. Heather and welcome to the Fix Your Naturally Podcast. I am the founder & owner of Ask Doctor Heather which is a digital platform designed around helping you, the athlete & non-athlete achieve your optimal performance by teaching you how to fix your pain naturally. For years I operated a private practice in Connecticut but when the Pandemic hit I saw a need for people like you, who had various questions about their pain symptoms, to finally get the answers they needed. That’s when I created the Ask Doctor Heather brand. What I found was an overwhelmingly positive response to my online courses, video content and virtual coaching services. It has now become my mission to help serve over 1,000 people worldwide who finally want to learn how to fix their pain naturally and return to activity without hesitation or worry.

Now let’s get started

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Next Episode

Shin Splints - Why do they cause so much trouble?

Have you ever suffered with shin splints? ✋

Throughout the whole Pandemic and even now, Shin Splints seems to be the #1 problem people are asking about. Their question is “how to fix them”. For some the answer is simple because the initial course of action is to rest, ice, compress and massage out the area. But for others these little muscles come back with vengeance making one believe that their shin splints will never go away.

Not sure if you caught what I said above but I did say “muscles”. There are two muscles that can cause shin splints which is why it is important to determine first if it’s an anterior shin splint or a posterior shin splint. Even though the initial course of action may be the same regardless of an anterior or posterior shin splint, it’s the course of action you take after that initial phase. This will also play apart in your running gait.

So what do I mean by that 😕

Having a gait analysis done at your local running shoe store will add great value, insight to what is happening when the foot strikes the ground. This is why it becomes important to know if we pronate, supinate, have reduced dorsiflexion of the foot or if we are a heavy heel striker. Now here is where the gait analysis plays an even greater role in understanding how to rid yourself of shin splints. By watching someone run, we don’t just look at the feet, we look at the pelvis, the hips, how the upper leg and lower leg are moving throughout the entire run cycle. This helps us in figuring out why the shin splint is recurring.

Understand that shin splints are an overuse injury because many times we do increase our intensity, our mileage too quickly but it doesn’t mean nor should it mean that you can’t continue to run. If you have specific questions about your shin splints, leave a comment below 👇

Shin Splints Part 1

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