(sorry i messed up the format of the video so it’s teeny tiny, but should be better going forward :P)
This is a second part to my previous post and video about reducing low back and hip pain with hip flexor and quad stretches. If you missed it, here it is.
The hamstring is made up of the bicep fermoris (bicep meaning it has 2 heads of origin), the semitenodinosus and semimembranosus. These muscles attach to the pelvis, thigh bone, and inner and outter shin bones, so it engages when you flex your knee and extend your hip.
A lot of athletes and sedentary office workers experience “tightness” in the hamstring. If you fall into in between these two populations and feel that your hamstrings are tight, keep reading before you start trying to grab your toes.
There is more than one cause for feeling tightness in the backs of the thighs so we can’t treat all hamstring strains the same.
For the office worker who sits for most of the day, and begins to slouch in their seat, their knees are constantly in flexion and so is their lumbar 
spine. The glutes are also highly active because it is “tucked under.” They sit on their sacrum instead of their two sitz bones and are in a posterior pelvic tilt. Their posture is like Barney from The Simpsons!
For people like this, the following hamstring stretches will help lengthen the backs of the legs as well as release the spine (hold for 30-60 seconds or 5-8 relaxed belly breaths):
Standing forward fold (Uttanasana):
In this pose, gravity should do the work of moving one deeper into the pose. If you are experiencing tightness in the hamstrings, try not to pull yourself down by using the hip flexors. This can create tightness and congestion in the front of the hip joints as well as stress on the tendons and connective tissues of the knee joint. Instead, soften the knees, find softness in the hip joints and allow the spine to release. After the spine has released, extending the legs can produce an even lengthening along the entire back line of the body. The goal is to find length of a muscle rather than its attachment points (so not your joints)
- From standing (mountain pose), plant your feet into the ground including the heel, the balls of the feet and the toes. Connecting the entire foot to the floor will help you stabilize and build strength in the foot and lower leg
- With the knees soft, hinge at the hips and fold your body in half.
West (back) Stretching (Paschimottanasana):
The back of the body is referred to as the WEST because of the traditional practice of facing the rising sun in the east when performing morning worship
- Similar to the stretch above, but it is done in a seated position.
- Find the hinge at the hips and let gravity assist in deepening the pose. Instead of forcing your way down, soften the knees and elevate the hips with blankets or a pillow, so that gravity can draw the upper body forward. Straps can also be used to reach closer to the feet without putting too much pressure on the spine.
- Ensure to engage the inner thighs so that the knee caps and toes face the sky to maintain neutral alignment.
Supine hand-to-big-toe pose (Supta Padangusthasana):
Taken straight from my ebook
- Use a strap (or towel) and wrap it around the top foot.
- Use your hands to grab either side of the straps and relax the elbows, shoulders and neck
- Allow the top knee to bend slightly if needed, and work with gravity to help deepen the stretch. This is a passive stretch and requires little effort. Repeat other side
Now, for the population that is in crazy anterior pelvic tilt, where instead of their butts tucking under, they stick out, like most athletes and females, the hamstrings will feel “tight”, but stretching them out for hours on end may not be the best solution. 
In this posture, the hamstring is put in a big stretch because its job is to tilt the pelvis the OTHER way (posteriorly). When someone is extremely anteriorly tilted, the hamstrings are constantly “on” to prevent someone from ending up with extension-based back pain. Holding long, static hamstring stretches for these people can make them more unstable. In this case, stretching the quads and hip flexors can help! Again, see my previous post. Poses that build stability in the glutes and the anterior core would also be appropriate.
Here are some:
Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)
- Lie on your back with the soles of your feet on the floor, close to your sitting bones, feet hip width apart and parallel to each other, knees stacked over the ankles
- Lift the lower back one vertebra at a time
- Knees stay hip width apart and engage the inner thighs
- Bring chest and ribs forwards the chin and relax neck and shoulders
Plank (High Plank) or four-limbed Staff Pose or High Plank Pose – Uttihita Chaturanga Dandasana
- Keep the palms directly under the shoulders. Arms straight and spread the fingers wide.
- Pressing down into the base of your fingers and knuckles, push the floor away, extend the legs straight and flex the quads, pushing the heels away.
- Activate the glutes and hamstrings to lengthen the lower back, pull the ribcage up and draw the belly button inward, shining through the chest without losing the engagement in the glutes and core.
- open the crease of the elbows to face the front, activating the lats, fingers still facing forward.
- Lengthen the back of the neck to support a neutral spine.
Tadasana/Samasthiti – Mountain Pose/Upright steadiness
- essentially a standing plank.
- ground through all 4 corners of the feet and lift the arches
- soften the knees and engage the thighs
- lengthen the tailbone (tuck in the butt), cinch in the belly around the waist and breathe fully through the ribcage
- inhale to lift the sternum, exhale to draw the shoulder blades down and back.
- lengthen the back of the neck by making a double chin
At the end, holding some hamstring stretches for 10-15 seconds wouldn’t really cause collateral damage. Sometimes, stretching it just feels good! But it is important to take the time to see where the issue is coming from instead of taking a cookie cutter routine.
This is why I am a PERSONAL trainer and PRIVATE yoga teacher 🙂
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Please like and share, and let me know what else you would like to see! I will be adding a part 3!
