Hamstring Stretches & Lower Back Pain

Are You a Fan of Morning Toe Touches?

Do you include hamstring stretches in your daily routine? Whether at the gym or before your game, if you’re dealing with lower back pain and incorporating stretches like these, it’s time to pause.

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Caution: The Standing Hamstring Stretch

When you bend over and round your lower back, aiming to touch your toes, you may think you’re stretching your hamstrings, but you could also be damaging your discs.

You heard your Yoga teacher say the Uttanasana (standing forward bend pose) is great for stretching out your back, hamstrings and calves. However, you should be aware of Stuart McGill’s research.

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Research Insight: Dr. Stuart McGill’s Findings

Dr Stuart McGill’s research reveals a concerning outcome: repetitive forward bends, like the ones often seen in seated or standing hamstring stretches, can exert pressure on the front of your discs. Over time, this pressure can lead to disc herniation, akin to a jelly doughnut squirting out.

Correct Form: Safely Stretching Your Hamstrings

The key to a safe stretching out hamstrings lies in maintaining the arch in your lower back. By keeping your lower back arched and your head raised, as demonstrated in the correct form picture above, you can effectively stretch your hamstrings without risking disc injury.

If you look at both exercises either the seated hurdler’s stretch or standing stretch of your hamstring you are essentially doing the same thing, bending forward. Only with a standing position you are putting more pressure on your disc due to the effects of gravity.

If your back straightens out you lose the arch and you hurt your disc.

The question remains can you round your back and do the stretch like in the first two pictures if you have no pain? The answer is no if you want to prevent lower back pain. Doing the first two stretches once or twice will be no problem. Doing it thousands of times causes problems.

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