Are you always complaining of tight hamstrings and constantly needing to stretch? Perhaps you’re dissatisfied with your current performance. Our approach looks at your body as a whole and provides a direct solution to reducing tightness. Unlike other treatments that only focus on one aspect of your body, our approach is easy to follow and aims to address your underlying issue.
Athletes who received chiropractic care had a 3.6% incidence rate of hamstring injury, compared to a 27.6% chance of injury. Also, athletes receiving chiropractic care resulted in only missing 4 matches per season due to hamstring and lower limb complaints compared to the others who missed on average 21 games. (1)
One of the top complaints we get daily Is “Hey doc, my hamstrings are just so tight, and I don’t understand why? I’m stretching all the time, why are they constantly tight?”. If this sounds like you, then you’re the perfect candidate for to receive our approach.
1. Over-stretching
The number one reason we see people with tight hamstrings is due to over-stretching, over-triggering and over-rolling without any understanding of why they are going tight in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong, static stretching has its place when utilised correctly, but our biggest observation in practice is that static stretching is being over-utilised.
Firstly, you need to understand why the muscle is going tight in the first place?
- The brain is telling it to do that for a reason.
- Why would the brain tell the muscle to go tight? Because there is a underlying issue going on.
- The underlying issue is stemming from an instability, most commonly beginning and found in your pelvis.
- When we become unstable our muscles tighten to help stabilise.
- Our nervous system is a program, and if you continually stretch and lengthen your “tight muscles”, it makes them weaker, which is the opposite to what we want to do.
- You need to give your body support and stability!
If continually stretching was the answer, why does the tightness keep coming back?
First you need to understand why the muscle is going tight in the first place?
- The brain is telling it to do that for a reason.
- Why would the brain tell the muscle to go tight? Because there is a underlying issue going on.
- The underlying issue is stemming from an instability. Most commonly beginning and found in your pelvis.
- When we become unstable our muscles tighten to help stabilise.
- Our nervous system is a program, and if you continually stretch and lengthen your “tight muscles”, it makes it weaker, which is the opposite to what we want to do.
- You need to give your body support and stability!
If continually stretching was the answer, why does the tightness keep coming back?
Through specific testing, we assess which muscles are weak and unstable. Instead of giving you a rigorous stretching routine, we use our specific muscle strengthening technique to give your tight and weak muscles the support they need.
2. Poor Postural Habits
As you observe the photo of a person in a forward-tipping posture, where their head and torso are leaning ahead of their feet, you can easily recognise how this posture can affect low back pain and hamstring tension.
When your body is positioned like this, what do you think your brain is signaling to your hamstrings? Naturally, it’s telling them to tighten up. After all, this response helps prevent you from falling forward and maintains your balance. This ongoing hamstring tension can contribute to discomfort and pain in your lower back. What’s intriguing is that if you were to attempt to alleviate this discomfort by stretching your hamstrings, it could inadvertently exacerbate the issue. Stretching in this scenario may confuse your brain and lead to even tighter hamstrings. This is where a holistic approach is crucial.
To effectively address low back pain and hamstring tightness in the context of this forward-tipping posture, it’s vital to focus on improving your overall posture and body alignment, rather than just targeting isolated muscle groups. By retraining your body to maintain a balanced, upright posture, you can help alleviate both low back pain and hamstring tension, promoting long-term well-being.
3. Pelvic Imbalance
Muscle weakness can lead to tightness due to imbalanced forces around joints. We call this Muscle Inhibition. When opposing muscles lack strength, the stronger muscles overpower their counterparts, causing them to contract excessively.
This imbalance results in reduced joint mobility, strained connective tissues, and a sensation of tightness in the affected muscle groups. A holistic healthcare approach emphasises mind-body balance.
We consider our pelvis to be our Foundation, and often find imbalances in the pelvis that have been missed that stretching and triggering alone won’t fix. By correcting these missed imbalances within the pelvis, this will allow for a strong foundation and those tight hamstrings can begin to ease.
How We Can Help…
The brain is telling our muscles to go tight for a reason, so as practitioners, we address the cause of the underlying issues rather than focusing on the symptom alone. We do this through chiropractic adjustments and specific exercises, that need to be implemented in the right order, at the right time, to have the greatest impact.
Fortunately, we regularly help these types of concerns and look forward to the opportunity to discuss your concerns with you!
Book An Appointment
If you have any questions on this topic, please call us on (07) 3357 3366 or alternatively, you can book an appointment at Blue Align Chiropractic.
We’d love to help you experience better health.
References:
https://www.researchgate.net
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov