The Long and Short of Legs

Many people struggle to lengthen their hamstrings, but working too aggressively can lead to injury. Here are some crucial tips for getting a safe stretch.

By Julie Gudmestad

I was teaching an out-of-town workshop and was just about to start a class when one of the students approached me. Looking a bit worried, she described a nagging pain at one of her sitting bones. The spot was tender to sit on, she said, and decidedly painful in some asanas. "What's causing the pain?" she asked. "What can I do about it?"

Sadly, I hear this complaint with increasing frequency as I talk with yoga students from all over the country. The problem usually arises in experienced practitioners with very flexible hamstrings—often women, though not always. The pain lingers on and on, with little or no progress toward healing. If these students were to discontinue all the poses that elicit the pain, their practice would be significantly limited. Often, they don't seek medical attention, because it seems like a relatively minor problem; instead, they opt to self-treat by practicing lots of poses that stretch the sore area.

There are a number of conditions that can cause pain at the sitting bone, including some serious lower back and sacroiliac injuries. If the pain is intense—especially if it is associated with pain in the back or farther down the leg—the situation should be evaluated by a health care provider who can establish an appropriate treatment plan. However, chances are very good that strained, overstretched hamstring muscles are the culprit. And if they are, there's good news: By changing his or her yoga practice, the student can support the hamstrings' natural healing process.

The Sitting Bone's Connected to the...

The hamstrings are the large group of three muscles that fill the back of the thigh. Two of the muscles, the semitendinosus and the semimembranosus, are in the medial (inner) section of the thigh. The third, the biceps femoris, is in the lateral (outer) portion of the back of the thigh. All three muscles originate on the ischial tuberosity—the bony protuberance at the bottom of the pelvis that is commonly called the sitting bone—and the biceps femoris has an additional attachment on the back of the femur, or thighbone. The hamstrings insert below the knee on the two lower leg bones, the tibia and fibula.

Most people can feel the hamstrings with their own hands—the muscles are the closest ones to the skin of the back of the thigh—and can follow them all the way down to the knee. It's even easier to find the hamstring tendons behind and just above the knee. To do this, place your heel out in front of you while sitting on the floor or in a chair. Keeping your knee partially bent, dig your heel into the floor as if you were trying to pull the heel toward you. When you do this, the tendons will stand out and be easy to see and touch.

The hamstrings have two primary actions: knee flexion (bending the knee) and hip extension. When you're squatting, your hips are flexed; you bring them into extension when you stand upright, placing the thighbones in line with the torso. When you stand on your right leg in Virabhadrasana III (Warrior Pose III) and lift your left leg to hold it parallel to the floor, your left hamstrings are creating hip extension. When you lie on your stomach, bend your knees, and lift your feet so you can grab your ankles for Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), the hamstrings are creating knee flexion. (The hamstrings also assist in rotational actions at the hip and knee.) To stretch your hamstrings, you need to keep your knee straight and flex your hip (in other words, fold the front of the thigh and the abdomen toward each other). One of yoga's classic hamstring stretches is Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), in which the knees are straight, the torso hangs down, and the abdomen eventually rests on the front of the thighs.

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