Hip Redux
It's amazing how 3 minutes can last an hour and a half. It's like a kid on Christmas countdown ... can I stop this stretch YET???
In my head, I'm saying "Ain't no one got time for this!"
running is bad for you
I hereby throw down the gauntlet and challenge you to a hamstring tightness competitIon. I have been doing yoga 2-3x/week for 8 years. It is full of hamstring-stretching poses. But still, when I sit down with legs extended and reach for my toes, my upper body can barely get past 90 degrees, and my hands & toes are in different area codes. However I have never tried doing it for 3 minutes. Is that even possible? I can run for 4 straight hours (well, when I was running), but I don't think I could survive a 3 minute hamstring stretch.
I want in on this. I stretch every day. And the ONLY place I have never seen improvement is my hamstrings.
Singer who runs a smidge
Let's get organized here, people. For those of us that can barely sit up straight with our legs extended and form a 90 degree angle, we stretch each hamstring for 3 minutes, six days a week. Y'all are already one day behind me! Assess results at Thanksgiving.
Hope'sMom
DaveP
MtnBikerChk
Any other inflexible takers?
When it's all said and done, no one remembers how far we have run. The only thing that matters is how we have loved.
Super B****
That's me when I foam roll... who has patience for more than ten seconds?! (Well, now I do. Since I love pain, and all.)
Also, I have wonderfully flexible hamstrings and have no problem touching my toes without bending my knees. So there.
chasing the impossible
because i never shut up ... i blog
Let's get organized here, people. For those of us that can barely sit up straight with our legs extended and form a 90 degree angle, we stretch each hamstring for 3 minutes, six days a week. Y'all are already one day behind me! Assess results at Thanksgiving. Hope'sMom DaveP MtnBikerChk Any other inflexible takers?
sounds good. we start tomorrow? LOL
JK - I'll do it when I get home.
Sloooow.
This thread is frightening, I'm so sorry for all of the injured runners. Chin up guys.
DaveP, I don't know much about what is going on with you I literally just read "pain in back of knee". Any chance of it being sciatic pain? I went through a period of having sharp pain in the back of my knee, I did lots of piriformis stretches and it resolved. Piriformis issues can result from what Oski was talking about. Runners have very good forward muscle tone, and that outbalances other muscles. Stronger muscles pull on the weak piriformis which puts pressure on the nerve.
I'm flexible, that's about the only thing going for me. I can touch my toes, I can actually get my hands flat on the ground. That flexibility also gives me lax knees and hips though.
Can we have a hip flexor division? I'd like to enter myself into that contest lol
Working on finding hip flexor stretches, as that's a problem area for me as well. Too many of them involve kneeling, though, which right now is extremely painful for me. I'll let you know if I find anything!
Former Bad Ass
Hubby said his top shin is hurting. I think it's just sore. We'll see tomorrow on run # 2.
Damaris
At my first visit, my PT took one look at my hammys and immediately labeled me guitar strings. Me, in my infinite ignorance, thought it was a compliment! lol
I need to stretch, and I am doing much better than I was before, but there is only so much time in the day. Hopefully I can make it to the off-season in one piece, and rekindle my hip work and leg stretching regimen that I did last winter.
I made a ton of progress from December to March.
Aren't you from the UK? Don't you mean to say "keep your pecker up"? My understanding is that is the UK equivalent of "keep your chin up", although does not quite translate the same in the US. I have an English friend who moved here with his wife; she unknowingly used that expression to a group of male coworkers. You can pretty much imagine the looks she got.
Anyhoo -- it does not seem like sciatic pain. I have had that before & it was always down the back of the leg, and I would feel it constantly. This is pretty concentrated behind the knee. And only hurts when I run, and only after a few miles. But who knows. (Yes, I know I should see a specialist, but I am trying one more self-directed comeback first.)
Dave
What's your recommended stretch? The one they had me doing at PT was lying on the back, holding one leg up with a strap. That seemed to concentrate the stretch pretty well, without causing the back pain I sometimes get from any kind of forward folding stretch.
Also - do you just go right into the stretching? I thought you aren't supposed to stretch cold muscles, especially this intensely. I have always stretched after a run, or in yoga there is generally a gradual warmup.
Aren't you from the UK? Don't you mean to say "keep your pecker up"? My understanding is that is the UK equivalent of "keep your chin up", although does not quite translate the same in the US. I have an English friend who moved here with his wife; she unknowingly used that expression to a group of male coworkers. You can pretty much imagine the looks she got. Anyhoo -- it does not seem like sciatic pain. I have had that before & it was always down the back of the leg, and I would feel it constantly. This is pretty concentrated behind the knee. And only hurts when I run, and only after a few miles. But who knows. (Yes, I know I should see a specialist, but I am trying one more self-directed comeback first.)
Pecker to me is NOT a chin, lol. Chin up mate is as English as I could make that. I've had plenty of giggles over fanny packs, so the fun goes both ways.
It just stuck out to me because I genuinely thought I was having a knee problem, the pain was just in the back of my knee. Apparently pain can be felt at any point along the nerve. A piriformis stretch would give you an indication if it was sciatic. Sorry you are having so much trouble, pain sucks.
What's your recommended stretch? The one they had me doing at PT was lying on the back, holding one leg up with a strap. That seemed to concentrate the stretch pretty well, without causing the back pain I sometimes get from any kind of forward folding stretch. Also - do you just go right into the stretching? I thought you aren't supposed to stretch cold muscles, especially this intensely. I have always stretched after a run, or in yoga there is generally a gradual warmup.
I wouldn't stretch cold muscles, no. Do a little bit of a warm up first - walk, whatever.
The book says you can lie on the floor and put your leg up against a wall, if you don't want to exert the force to hold it up. I stretch one leg out on a lab bench that happens to be at the right height and then basically sit up straight.
I do stretch cold muscles, because that's when I have time. If I tried to stretch after running, there would be a dog standing on my face immediately. 3 minutes per leg would result in an incredible amount of dog licking! But yeah, your PT stretch is pretty much the recommended stretch.