How Can I Improve My Hamstring Flexibility?

For so many people tight hamstring muscles are a constant source of frustration. The advice given to them is usually to keep going with stretching, foam rolling, self massage, etc and more often than not the list lengthens but the hamstrings don't. A combination of dynamic stretching and core strengthening helps most people overcome this and can be achieved in a single exercise.

Dynamic Stretching 

Recently there's been more awareness of how this approach rather than static stretching, benefits muscle flexibility. The consensus of much research into hamstring injury has been that to prevent the muscle from tearing, it needs to be able to resist a loaded stretch to end of range. This is effectively what dynamic stretching is designed to do, and as a bonus it also lengthens the structure of the muscle.

Core Strength

Your hamstring muscles attach to your pelvis, which provides a platform for your legs to drive from. If you're lacking in core muscle strength then your pelvic platform will be less balanced, and consequently your hamstrings may stay tight in order to stabilise the pelvis. Try flipping this and getting your core strong and you should feel your hamstrings are able to do their real job which is to get you walking, running and jumping.

Below is an exercise that will lengthen your hamstrings while training the muscles around your hips and core to keep you balanced.

The Inverted Hamstring Stretch



Balance on your right foot with good upright spine posture






Bend at your waist, maintain perfect spine posture and extend your left leg back.





Your body should be in a straight line from head to ankle

Tom Lowes B.Ost MSc (Sports Med)
Registered Osteopath - Sports Injury Rehabilitation

Twitter @SportsMedOsteo