One big downer about prolonged sitting is its effect on circulation, especially in the lower body. If your knees are higher than your hips, then hip socket compression can cut off blood and nutrients to your legs, which can lead to uncomfortable tingling (bad) or clots (worse). You might try to sit less or adopt a more ergonomic workstation. But sometimes you need to go a step further to boost leg circulation.
Break out the foam roller right? Maybe. Foam rolling gets at the center of the back of the thigh, but the most superficial hamstring muscles, biceps femoris and semitendinosis, don’t exist as a single bundle in the center—rather one is more medial (biceps femoris) and the other is more lateral (semitendinosis). Why not address those medial and lateral muscle bellies?
Enter: The Must-Do Hamstring Move that You’ve Been Missing
The following Hamstring Release with Double Track Rollers is effective because it provides deep compression to the medial and lateral hamstring muscle bellies rather than just steam rolling down the center.
Warm up for a few minutes, and then grab your soma system® Double Track Roller (in a pinch two tennis balls stuffed in a sock will suffice), and set yourself up in a chair. Place the roller just in front of the ischial tuberosity on the right side, and then relax your weight down into the tool. Take two breaths, and then nudge the tool a bit further down your hamstring. If you find a particularly tight area, then pause and straighten your right leg. Lengthen your spine as your breathe in, and then fold forward from your hips as you breathe out. Stay for a few breaths, and then release and continue coaxing the tool down the length of your thigh. Stop before you reach the soft back of the knee, and then repeat on the left leg.
Watch the video below for more specific instructions.
Wrap up your hammie rehab with your favorite hamstring stretch. Ours is the three-way stretch. Be sure to hold your stretch (or stretches) for at least 30 seconds apiece, and don’t overdo it. Pain behind your knee is a sign you’ve gone too far.
