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The majority of people will suffer from back pain at some point in their life. Lower back and hamstring pain are frustrating because many times the low back pain is due to other muscle groups such as tight hamstrings, tight lower back muscles, or muscle groups in the lumbar spine.
Can Lower Back Pain Cause Hamstring Pain?
Yes, lower back pain can cause hamstring pain. This can be due to a disc herniation, which can lead to pain down the back of the leg and hamstring. It can also be due to sciatica which is when the sciatic nerve becomes compressed.
Before going into the best exercises for lower back pain, we must first understand the cause. The type of back pain that you have depends on how to treat it. For example some people may have back pain due to lack of mobility in the back. In this case you would focus on lumbar spine and thoracic spine mobility exercises.
Sciatica Hamstring Pain
Low back pain may also be due to hamstring tightness. This is the tightness you feel in the back of the thigh. It is important to differentiate between hamstring tightness, hamstring injury, and sciatic nerve pain.
If you feel radiating symptoms and tingling/numbness down the back of your thigh you may have sciatica. The treatment for sciatica is slightly different than just typical back pain or hamstring tightness. The treatment is focused on more on nerve glides, and mobility in order to decompress the sciatic nerve. You can learn more about sciatica symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment here.
It is important to perform physical therapy exercises that focus on both increasing mobility through hamstring stretching and lumbar/thoracic stretches and strengthening exercises focused on the core, hip and glute muscle groups. The combination of these exercises focused on a specific group of muscles is the best way to cure lower back pain!
Risk Factor of Low Back Pain
- Age
- Sedentary Lifesytyle
- Overweight or obese
- Improper Lifting Techniques
- Smoking
- If you are interested in learning more about the risk factors and causes of back pain, you can find more information here.
How Do You Fix Lower Back And Hamstring Pain?
The best way to fix lower back and hamstring pain is through physical therapy exercises and activity modification. The physical therapy exercises will focus on core strengthening, hip and glute strengthening and decreasing tightness of the hamstrings and back muscles.
As always it is important to see your doctor prior to starting a new exercise routine. Your doctor will also be able to formally assess you and determine the underlying cause of your back pain.
Lower Back And Hamstring Exercises
All of these lower back and hamstring pain exercises can be done at home with no equipment. You won’t even need a foam roller to perform these exercises!
Although a heating pad may help to alleviate lower back pain, it will not fix the lower back pain long term. These physical therapy exercises are the best exercises to fix back pain long term. In order to fix low back pain long term you must stretch and strengthen the correct muscles.
Flexibility Exercises For Lower Back And Hamstring Pain
- Open Book
- This exercise helps to stretch tight muscles in the thoracic spine. It is a great, relaxing stretch to help ease your lower back muscle tightness.
- Start by lying on your side with your knees bent and your arms straight out in front of you. Now rotate your top arm and back towards the other side. The key to this exercise is to feel a good stretch but not pain.
- Hold this for 20-30 seconds. Don’t overstress your shoulder. This is not a shoulder exercise, it is a trunk exercise.
- Hamstring Stretches
- The hamstrings are comprised of the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris muscles. They attach to the ischial tuberosity of the pelvis. When the hamstrings are tight, you will feel a pull in the back of the leg. This tightness can also result in a decreased range of motion in the knee joint.
- If you are getting knee pain with any of these exercises you can find more knee exercises at 9 Forgotten Knee Exercises For Pain Relief.
- To perform this exercise you should lie on your back and lift one leg, keeping it straight. Hold your leg up with your hands and continue keeping it straight. When you perform this on each of your legs you should feel a strong pull in the back of your thighs.
- This exercise will help improve your hamstring flexibility. Do not perform this exercise if you have any type of muscle strain, hamstring strain, or any hamstring injuries as you do not want to injure yourself.
- You can also perform a wall hamstring stretch in which you lie on your back with your legs straight and resting on a wall. You should feel a pull in the back of your leg. If you want to feel a stronger stretch or incorporate the calf muscles you can flex your ankle towards you.
- Lower Trunk Rotation
- Lie on your back with your knees bent. Now slowly let your legs fall off to the left side in order to stretch the right side. To stretch the left side let both of your legs fall to the right. Hold this position for 20-30 seconds.
- You should feel a nice stretch, but it should not be painful. Another option is to perform this exercise with your feet on a physioball.
- Posterior Pelvic Tilt
- Many people with chronic low back pain have an anterior pelvic tilt. This is due to tight or overactive back extensors and hip flexors which are allowing the pelvis to tilt forward.
- In order to fix this we must do the opposite which is a posterior pelvic tilt. This will help to bring the pelvis more to its neutral position.
- People with flat feet also typically have an anterior pelvic tilt and low back pain. If this sounds like you here are the 11 Best Exercises For Flat Feet to Fix Knee and Back Pain.
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and arms at your side. Now pull your belly button in towards your spine. You should feel this in your abs.
- Another way to think about it is to brace your abdominal muscles as if you are about to get punched or poked in the stomach. Regardless of which way helps you to perform the exercise you should feel your back flattening on the floor. Hold this for 3 seconds and then relax.
Core Exercises For Lower Back And Hamstring Pain
- Abdominal Isometric
- Lie on your back with your legs in table top position (legs and hips bent to 90 degrees in the air). Now push into both of your thighs while maintaining this table top position. You should feel your abdominal muscles contracting. Hold this position for 5 seconds and then bring legs down to rest.
- Too hard? Keep your feet flat on the ground with your knees bent and push into your thighs while tightening your abdominal muscles.
- Dead Bugs
- This exercise is a great core exercise and is a lot harder than it looks! Start by lying on your back in table top position. Table top position is when your feet and hips are at 90 degrees with feet off the ground.
- Now raise your arms straight up towards the ceiling. You should feel your abdominal muscles working. Now extend your leg and the opposite arm at the same time. Bring your arm and leg back to the starting position and then extend your other leg and opposite arm. Perform this 10 times and then take a break.
- If you start to feel this in your back then bring your legs down and take a break. The goal of this exercise is to teach you to recruit your ab muscles instead of your back extensors.
- Too easy? You will need a yoga block for this variation. You will start in the same position with your legs in table top position. Now place the yoga block on your left thigh with your right elbow holding it up. Maintain this position and then perform dead bug by extending right leg and left arm 10 times and then switch sides.
- Too hard? Perform the exercise with just arms. Your legs will still be in tabletop position but you won’t have to worry about coordinating the movements between your legs and arms since you are only moving your arms.
- Bird Dogs
- Get on your hands and knees with hands directly below shoulders and knees right below hips. Now reach out in front of you with your arm and kick your opposite leg back.
- Be sure to keep your pelvis level the whole time. Essentially if someone were to put a plate on your back you should be able to balance it and not let it fall. This exercise is great because it not only strengthens the core muscles but also improves your hip stability and glute strength. It is a 3 in 1 exercise!
- Too easy? After each rep instead of bring your hands and feet down bring your elbow to your knee to increase core activation. You can also put an Airex pad or dynadisk under one hand or knee to make stabilizing and balancing more difficult.
- Too hard? Perform with just legs, keeping both hands on the floor at all times. This still works on your core strength and stability but is not as difficult to perform. If this exercise is difficult for you due to poor balance you can find more balance exercises at 11 Creative Dynamic Balance Exercises To Improve Stability In Seniors.
Hip/Glute Exercises
- Bridge
- Lie on your back with both knees bent. Tighten your butt and core muscles and lift your butt off the floor. Pause at the top and then slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position.
- The key to this exercise is to not feel it in your back. If you start to feel pain or stress in your back then really focus on squeezing your butt and core throughout the entire exercise.
- If you are having any groin or hip pain that you think may be related to a hip labral tear you can find more information at Hip Labral Tear Symptoms Physical Therapy Treatment For Hip and Lower Back Pain.
- Too easy? Place a resistance band around your knees or perform a single leg bridge by pushing up with one leg and keeping the other leg straight and off the ground throughout the entire exercise. Still too easy? Perform the single leg bridge on an uneven surface like an Airex, dynadisk or boss ball. This will now involve balance and stability.
- Too hard? Perform bridge to decreased height. If it is still too hard and you are not able to get your butt off the mat then perform glute sets. This is when you lie down on your back with your knees bent and squeeze your butt and hold for 5 seconds.
- Sidelying Hip Abduction
- This exercise is great because it strengthens your hip abductors. These muscles are responsible for stabilizing your pelvis and when they are weak people tend to overcompensate with their back resulting in back pain, specifically lower back pain.
- To perform this exercise you will lie on your side with your bottom knee bent and top knee straight. Make sure to have your hips stacked onto of each other. Now lift your top leg up off of your other leg. Perform this 10 times.
- Too easy? Add an ankle weight or a theraband around your ankle to add some resistance. Another way is to perform 10 hip circles clockwise and 10 counterclockwise while keeping your leg up. You will feel just how much more difficult this version is!
- Too hard? You can perform this exercise on your back in order to take gravity out of the equation. You will lie on your back and slowly slide your leg out to the side and then slowly bring it back in.
Summary of Exercises For Lower Back and Hamstring Pain
Now that you know the easiest way to cure lower back and hamstring pain it is time to go out and try these! The first step to improving your back pain is by incorporating these exercises into your daily routine. Remember, the best way to treat lower back and hamstring pain is through lumbar/thoracic stretching, hamstring stretching, and core, glute, and hip strengthening.
As always, the safest way to perform these exercises is with a physical therapist because they will be able to develop a rehabilitation plan specific to you and your body. These exercises for lower back pain are a great start, but if you have a medical condition or if your back pain persists it is always a good idea to see a healthcare professional.