Tight hamstring muscles
OMG, what runner does NOT have tight hamstrings. Most hamstring injuries in runners are chronic, the build-up after 10 trillion push-offs. We seem to stretch them and the just get shorter. When I ask a patient, “When is the last time you stretched your hamstrings?” The answer is usually something like, ‘Well 1990…. something’. Tight hamstrings, by themselves usually won’t bring a runner to the Repair Shop. It is when the runner is having difficulty maintaining their previous speed and they think their hamstrings may be the guilty party. As your hamstrings become tight, they limit your stride length and limit your speed.
History: Most of the time you cannot remember any one accident, your hamstrings just got tight. Hamstring injuries can also happen as the result of a trauma. It could be the time you miscounted the steps and landed wrong or it can be a step on an uneven surface or running downhill.
Self-Exam: Here are some things you can look for in yourself.
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There are several different ways you can check your hamstrings. Here are a couple of videos to check yourself. If
- HS test 1 VID
- HS test 2 VID
- HS test 3 VID
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Don’t cheat. If you check your hamstrings every way listed here and one of the three says you don’t have tight hamstrings, but the other two say your hamstrings are tight, you probably have tight hamstrings.
TREATMENT
is exactly the same as for butt weakness on your painful knee. Since I personally hate it when a website says ‘Go to some other location.’ I have put the treatment here again.
Manage The Pain
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NSAIDS will help. Use any analgesics you feel help reduce the pain in your hamstrings.
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Knee braces usually do not help a lot.
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Kinesiology taping to your hamstrings until your pain is under control. LIN
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Continue running but avoid aggressive speed work and hill repeats, especially downhill running.
Restore full motion
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Since the hamstrings cross over both the knee and hip joints, you may have slight limitations to these joints. Here are two easy self-tests you can complete to test your joint mobility at the knees or hips. VID
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The sequential short-term stretches to both legs and all the muscles below the hip are absolutely my favorite. It makes sure you get all the muscles, not just the tightest of the bunch. VID
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Stretching does not have to be part of your warm-up or cool-down. But it HAS to be part of your training program. LIN
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Begin non-weight bearing exercises to restore strength without all the pressure on the joints
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Most exercises involve minimal movement of the hip. Our knees are supposed to stay below our hips when we run so the common exercise you see in the gym, the cable leg machine is NOT what you should be doing.
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My favorite is KISS. Keep it simple Sam (Or Samantha)
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Great exercises you can do at home are: clam shells, side lying hip abduction with band around legs, side bridges with weak leg toward ground.
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You will not be at this level very long; we just need to increase your strength while minimizing stress on your knee.
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Most runners with tight hamstrings do not have weakness. It is just the opposite; your hamstrings are tougher than they are long.
Correct running mechanics
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Gradually return to your previous running. Start on relatively flat ground or even on a treadmill. The best part of returning to running with a treadmill is that you can actually hear your footsteps. Also, a lot of treadmills are in front of a mirror so you can see your hands move and your feet move. If your arms or legs swing weird, you may want to have a physical therapist complete an evaluation before you return to full running. Listen and ‘feel’ how you run. Is one leg hitting the ground harder than the other? Does one arm swing differently than the other? Until you can run without pain and with fairly symmetrical running mechanics, you are still at risk of reproducing your old injury or creating a whole new injury to another part of your body.
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As soon as you can run without pain and without a limp you can return to your normal running routine.
Return to running speedwork and hills.
After you have been able to run on flat ground for a week with your with your normal training and have not had any pain, you can begin to add speed and hill training to your program.
My favorite step, get back to full running!
Have fun. Eventually you will bust something else and be back to the website to fix that.
If you follow the steps on the website for 2-6 weeks (depending on how badly you hurt yourself the first time and on how long you tried to ‘run through the pain’) and your problem does not resolve, then call our clinic for an appointment and we can do something Dr. Google cannot do. We can complete a hands-on evaluation, in-person evaluation to determine the cause of your pain.
Call for a free injury screen.
817.205.3204
Begin body weight exercises
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You can go straight to our section on weight training for runners.
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As soon as you can pass the hamstring flexibility tests, consider yourself good to go.
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Continue to tape your hammies util you can complete your speed work and hill work without pain.