CHARLOTTE – We talked previously about low back pain and what muscles might contribute to the discomfort. this week let’s look at a group of muscles that when tight, can definitely be a cause of the pain in your back.

The hamstring muscles are found on the back of your thigh. Specifically, there are four muscles that make up the hamstring group: the biceps femoris (long head and short head), the semitendinosus, and the semimembranosus. You can actually see them and feel them pretty easily.

The biceps femoris both help with flexion of the knee. Flexion is when you pick your knee up. The long head biceps femoris also provides stability to your pelvis. The semitendinosus is responsible for flexion of the thigh at the hip, meaning you kick your leg out in front of you. The semimembranosus does several things: flexes the knee, rotates the knee, and also helps hip extension. It also provides stability to the knee.

All of these muscles are extremely important to your knee health. If these muscles, any one of them (or all of them) are weak, you risk injury to your knee. If these muscles are overworked or tight, they can easily pull your back into the mix.

What can massage do to help keep these muscles in check? Your therapist can work the hamstring area in order to encourage the health of the muscles and address any sort of referred pain caused by trigger points. Working all hamstrings will help keep the muscles healthy.