3 ways to massage hamstrings
In honor of the World Cup and all the hamstring injuries, I’m going to show three ways to massage the hamstrings.
1. Glide with the hand. The hamstrings are located in the back of the thigh between the buttocks and the knees. First, I’m going to use a product to lubricate the surface because I’ll be gliding. Professionally speaking, the hamstrings attach to a sit bone and you want to get as close as possible with good pressure but if you use the palms with fingers pointing toward the glutes it can be invasive to the receiver. We’re not supposed to massage under the draping anyway. You don’t want to bend the wrist either because this will strain the forearm. So the better way is to use the back of the fingers. Start gliding lightly by using the entire back of the fingers. You can mix short strokes and long strokes. To increase the pressure lightly make a fist with the thumbs away from the fist and lean in to use your body weight. To add more pressure, make the fists harder, slow down and use the finger joints to glide. Using the back of the fingers you can give good enough pressure without being invasive or inappropriate. It gives a nice stretch to your wrists and forearms too.
2. Glide with the forearm. Forearm is a useful massage tool too that gives a good pressure without hurting your hands. When you massage hamstrings, make sure you do not press behind the knee. Start above the knee and glide towards the sit bone. Change the angle to glide up on different sides of the hamstrings. Make some circles too on tight spots on the way. Try to keep your back as straight as possible. It’s much easier to do this on a massage table.
3. Wringing. Start wringing the hamstrings by pulling the hamstring muscles around the bone with one hand as you push with the other hand. Go up and down between the knee and sit bone. Finish up with gliding strokes towards the heart.
Tight tight hamstrings can cause lower back pain. If you have a lower back pain, have your hamstrings massaged too.
Happy Massaging!
6-23-14 How to massage with the back of the hand http://bit.ly/mm-062314
