What’s the best way to stretch my hamstrings?
They seem to have gone really tight, probably due to sitting at a desk all day?
Is half an hour of stretching a day going to sort them out or do I need to be doing something else?

What is the best stretches to do?

half an hour a day sounds like bloody LOADS to me

I haven’t properly touched my toes since I was about 10 (and haven’t seen them for quite a while 😳 ). Mine don’t give me loads of trouble (though occasional sore knee that just could be related) – do yours ?

Lately my lower back aches if I stand for any length of time and if I try to bend at the waist.I’m guessing it hamstring related as it I try and touch my toes I’m lucky to get passed my knees and I can feel pulling on my lower back/butt cheeks

I try and touch my toes I’m lucky to get passed my knees

Sounds like this is a good stretch for you then. Hold it for 30 seconds, two or three times a day will be enough.

Stretching alone wont solve the problem but 30 mins per day is a good time to aim for with stretching. The days I do longer mountain bike rides or go to the gym I’ll do yoga for 45 mins afterwards. Each stretch or yoga posture should be held for a minimum of 30 seconds to get the benefit and if you are hurting while doing it then you are trying too hard and will make things worse. Also look into myofascia massage, which has helped me a lot.

Yoga will help. Everything’s connected – hips, glutes, hamstrings, calves etc. Worth doing something holistic to sort the whole lot out at the same time

+1 for the Yoga

Half an hour will help but 5 mins stretching 6 times a day would probably help more.
I have had sessions with a physio and the advice I was given with the stretching exercises was that short sessions regularly would help more. I would do it before work, lunch break, and before bed.
I found that made a difference. Since then i started a yoga class and have the least aches and pains I have had for some years.

Could be glutes or piriformis, rather than hamstrings.

Romanian deadlifts might help with the former (effectively just reaching down toward your toes and slowly back up), and would be helpful for hams as well.

Piriformis a bit more complicated to just explain – Google how to stretch it effectively (it’s your lower back pain that makes me think this)

IANAphysio…

D.P.

Could be tight hip flexors/quads. Tight hip flexors will rotate your pelvis forward/anteriorally (tailbone back/bum out), increasing your lumbar curve. Tight hip extenders (glutes, hamstrings) which’ll tip your pelvis back/posteriorally (decreasing lumbar curve). Either could mess up your lower back. As an approximation, your pubic bone and front of your anterior superior iliac spine(s) – the boney bit at pelvis upper front left/right – should be in the same vertical plane or thereabouts, but tbh i find it difficult to judge on myself . As another indicator, do you think you’ve got a particularly curved or flat lumbar region ? Tho equally, some people are just built that way. (Piriformis is more of a hip rotator/abductor depending on what you’re doing, but too tight can irritate the sciatic nerve – piriformis syndrome – im guessing this masquerades as lower back pain ?)

I had tight hamstring issues last year. Went to the physio who diagnosed the source of the problem as a tight ITB band causing other muscles and tendons to comprestate and knacker themselves out.

I was subscribed a course of stretches derived from Yoga and Pilates and that has sorted me out. At first I was doing them everyday but after 8 months or so I’ve reduced down to a few times a week and not had hamstring issues since. I spend about 10/15 mins doing the stretches.

Touching yer toes isn’t so much about yer hamstrings – it’s your abs and adductors that are weak

If your front (anterior) is weak your back (lower back/hams) shortens and stiffens to compensate, throwing your pelvis out of alignment.

A tight ITB is also a symptom of this (not a cause) but strengthening the front core will help treat that too

Best exercise to strengthen the anterior core is the Wall seated stretch. A few weeks of this 5 sets, twice a day will help you as will This

Double post

Touching toes isn’t that helpful, IMO.

I’ve just had some physio for tight hamstrings and glutes which has sorted me out nicely.

He gave me a hamstring stretch which involves lying on the floor next to a doorway, raising your leg towards 90 degrees and placing one heel at a time on the edge of the doorframe, with the other leg flat on the floor pointing through the doorway.

Then you actively push the heel against the doorframe for 10 seconds, relax then shuffle your bum in a bit and do it again, finishing with a normal stretch in the same position for 20 seconds or so. Do the other leg as well, obviously.

Combined with a ludicrous looking glute stretch, it has improved my flexibility for climbing no end.