Dean has a pain in his glute with tight hamstrings but the pain gets worse with stretching
- Related Injuries: Back, Quads & Hamstrings
December 18, 2014
I had this pain about 10 weeks now.
It’s a pain in my glute with tight hamstrings with won’t stretch out in fact it gets worse  with stretching. My hip is tight on the left no pain but it sticks out more. Does not hurt when I lay down. Not bad pain but just always there .
I have a desk job. The whole glute hamstring hip feel really tight and all the stretching doesn’t really help.
Customer
December 18, 2014
Funny that!
Really is – something feels tight, but stretching makes it feel worse. So we have another go, just to check!
Tightness and stiffness are words which are interchangeable. They feel the same, but the causes are very, very different.
Tightness generally implies that the equal and opposite muscle is long and loose. Tight hammy, long and loose hip flexor. This, in reality is as rare as hens teeth.
Stiffness (feels tight) is a protection mechanism and should never be stretched.
You’ve got stiff muscles protecting a joint(s) which has too much relative joint play. Commonly this is somewhere in your lower back. Your gluts and hammy stiffen up to protect your lower back.
You need to find out why you’ve got a  relatively mobile lower back (joint play not gross motion).
The most common reason is having a relatively stiff thoracic spine. Posture is key. Sitting hunched over a keyboard all day, allowing your thoracic spine to tighten up will demand that your lumbar spine compensates and moves more. If you can’t control this extra, excessive joint play then your body will automatically step in napalm the area with muscle stiffness.
No more stretching but get better movement through your thoracic spine.
Don’t treat by stretching, cure by changing the cause.
The Guru
Six Physio
