How to Stretch Your Hamstrings: 4 Top Hamstring Stretches

The hamstring muscle group refers to the group of muscles on the back of your thighs, opposite your quadriceps. This muscle group comprises the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris, which connect the legs to the pelvis and extend down to the knees. The hamstring muscles help us perform activities like walking and running, so it’s important to keep them flexible, open, and healthy to prevent injury.

Sports, dancing, and other activities that involve sprinting and quick leg movements can cause tight hamstrings and impair your ability to perform at an optimal fitness level. Physical therapy or static stretching at home can help improve hamstring strain.

Hamstring stretching can promote overall physical wellness in your entire body. Some of the main benefits include:

1. 1. Improved range of motion. Performing hamstring exercises during a warm-up allows you to take longer strides, run faster, and perform at a higher level in all types of physical activity.
2. 2. Support for knee joints. Since this muscle group wraps around your pelvis and extends to the knees, hamstring tightness can leave your knee joints unsupported and potentially worsen knee pain. Giving your hamstrings a good stretch will keep your knees supported and able to bend deeper with more stability.
3. 3. More openness in the low back. Stretching your hamstrings allows you to stretch and bend deeper into your lumbar spine, potentially relieving low back pain. This muscle group also supports your spine as it directly connects to and wraps around your pelvic area right below the spine.
4. 4. Injury prevention. If you stretch your hamstrings correctly, regularly, and effectively, you can prevent hamstring injury and injuries to the knees and low back. Neglecting your hamstrings can potentially result in tearing a stiff muscle, weaker knees, or a lower back injury.

Many stretching exercises and yoga poses can open up the back of the thighs. Deep and intentional breathing while stretching will increase its effectiveness. Here are some simple, static stretches that you can do anytime:

1. 1. Lying hamstring stretch: Sit next to a wall with your right hip touching the wall and your knees bent. Begin to recline back, supported by your elbows. Pivot to the side and rotate your hip flexors so they are flush with the wall and lay on the ground with your back straight. Bring one leg up the wall and then the other, so they are vertical and supported by the wall. Feel the gentle stretch along the backsides of your leg. Breathe and hold for up to a few minutes. This stretch is gentle but extremely beneficial because it flushes your muscles and hip joints with fresh oxygenated blood.
2. 2. Seated hamstring stretch: Sit on the floor or a yoga mat with your legs straight and long in front of you for this stretch. Untuck the fleshy part from underneath your buttocks so you can feel your sitz bones rooted to the ground. Sit up tall through your spine. Slowly begin to lean forward, resting your hands on your thighs, shin bones, or grabbing for your outer feet. Breathe deeply and enter the stretch slowly, inching forward as you feel the backs of your thighs begin to loosen. Hold this stretch for 30 seconds to a minute, and then slowly begin to sit up tall.
3. 3. Standing forward fold: On an exhalation, enter a standing forward bend from a neutral standing position, bending each knee, with your hands reaching towards your shins or the ground. Next, slowly straighten your legs and feel the stretch in your hamstrings. Hold and breathe. If your hamstrings are tight, bend your knees slightly to receive the benefits of this stretch. If you can feel the stretch towards the outer edges of the muscle, you likely have tight muscles, have gone too far, and need to slowly back off the stretch.
4. 4. Standing hamstring stretch: Stand next to a railing about waist high. Lift your right leg onto the railing, engage your right knee, and flex your right foot. Next, lean forward and place your weight on your opposite leg. Breathe and stretch into your hamstring. After 30 seconds, switch legs and perform the stretch again.

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