Often when people feel tightness in the back of their legs, they assume it is their hamstrings. However, it is often neural (nerve) tension that is restricting people’s movement. One of the global movements that I often have patients try is to bend forward to try and touch their toes. It’s surprising how many people can not touch their toes, and the blame is generally put on their hamstrings. In this article we will explore what nerve tension is, and how to differentiate it to muscle tension. 

Is Nerve Tension Causing Your Tight Hamstrings? 

What do I mean by neural tension? The brain, the spinal cord and all the nerves throughout the body are encased in a wrapping called dura (I wrote about this is another blog post about Scoliosis. If the dural system is getting pinched or trapped in any part of the chain it creates more tension in the whole dural system. This can give a myriad of symptoms, including numbness, tingling, tightness, or a stretched feeling. This is what often happens in the case of hamstring tightness, neural tension creates a sensation of tightness and it feels like we need to stretch it. When really we need to take care of the neural tension, before we can even assess the flexibility of the hamstrings.  

What is nerve gliding or flossing? This is a technique that assists in recreating the natural gliding movement of the nerves. The idea being we can glide the nerve inside the dural casing to un-stick any tension points. Nerves don’t like to be stretched statically for a long period of time, however they respond well to applying tension/stretch for a second or two, and then easing off the tension and repeating. 

How to Know If You Have Nerve Tension:

Quick Test: lay on your back on the floor, use a towel or belt to pull your leg up (knee straight). See how far you can raise your leg and remember this as the comparison. 

Then try 5 reps, 2-3 sets of nerve glides: lay on your back, clasp behind your knee, extend your leg/knee until you feel a slight pull, then pump your ankle back and forth. Remember only a second or two! Just go to a point where it’s a pull and not pain. THEN! Re-test the straight leg raise with the towel. Any difference? If so, you’ve got some neural tension you need to take care of! 

Conclusion

If your hamstrings always feel tight no matter how much you stretch, the issue may be more than flexibility alone. Nerve tension, movement patterns, strength deficits, or posture can all play a role. At Move Authentically Physiotherapy, we assess the root cause of your symptoms and create a personalized treatment plan to help you move more freely and comfortably. If you’re looking for expert physiotherapy in Kingston, ON, we’d love to help you get lasting results. Book your appointment today.