10 Ways Tight Hamstrings Affect Your Entire Body
Your hamstring muscles contribute to or detract from your overall health. Located on the backs of your thighs and extending from your hips to just below your knees, your hamstrings allow you to run, walk, jog, jump, bend your knees, and move in a variety of other ways. The most common sports injuries involve the hamstring muscles. Not only are serious injuries slow to heal, but they can also reoccur.
Hamstring injuries are classified according to three grades:
- Grade I – includes mild muscle sprains and generally heal within a few days,
- Grade II – includes partial muscle tears that can take anywhere from three to eight weeks to heal, and
- Grade III – includes complete tearing of a muscle or an attachment and can take weeks or months to heal completely.
Even if your hamstring muscles aren’t injured, hamstrings that are too tight cause problems for your entire body, including:
- Bad Posture
- Neck and Back Pain
- Headaches
- Poor Digestion
- Disrupted Sleep
- Lack of Initiative
- Anterior Knee Pain
- Risk of Injury
- Stiff Joints
- Reduced Flexibility
While it’s true that playing sports and exercising can cause tight hamstrings, there are other causes which include poor posture, repetitive movements, being sedentary, and genetics. Some people are just born with shorter hamstrings.
If your hamstrings are tight or strained, you might notice some other symptoms like:
- Pain,
- Cramping,
- Bruising,
- Swelling,
- Tenderness, and
- Redness
You are most likely to feel tightness several hours after physical activity or first thing in the morning. If you are experiencing discomfort, you can treat your hamstrings simply by incorporating hamstring stretches into your exercise routine. You could even do some stretches every day whether or not you exercise. There are several stretches that are simple to do and that will help alleviate your pain.
One of the easiest options for treating tight hamstrings is to use a stretching aid. TS Ideal Stretch Products offers several hamstring stretching devices that are effective, safe, affordable, and easy to use.
Taking care of your hamstrings by keeping them properly stretched and flexible can help you avoid injury and prevent many health problems.
