Hamstring Strain Exercises

Your healthcare provider may recommend exercises to help you heal. Talk to your healthcare provider or physical therapist about which exercises will best help you and how to do them correctly and safely.

You may start the first 4 exercises right away. Make sure you do not feel any sharp pain. You should feel only a mild discomfort in the back of your thigh when you are doing these exercises.

• Standing hamstring stretch: Put the heel of the leg on your injured side on a stool about 15 inches high. Keep your leg straight. Lean forward, bending at the hips, until you feel a mild stretch in the back of your thigh. Make sure you don't roll your shoulders or bend at the waist when doing this or you will stretch your lower back instead of your leg. Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
• Hamstring stretch on wall: Lie on your back with your buttocks close to a doorway. Stretch your uninjured leg straight out in front of you on the floor through the doorway. Raise your injured leg and rest it against the wall next to the door frame. Keep your leg as straight as possible. You should feel a stretch in the back of your thigh. Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
• Slump stretch: Sit slouched in a chair with your head bent down. Straighten your injured leg and move your foot toward you. Hold this position for 30 seconds. Relax and then repeat 2 times.
• Prone knee bend: Lie on your stomach with your legs straight out behind you. Bend the knee on your injured side so that your heel comes toward your buttocks. Hold 5 seconds. Relax and return your foot to the floor. Do 2 sets of 15. As this gets easier you can add weights to your ankle.

When the pain is gone, start strengthening your hamstrings using the following exercises.

• Prone hip extension: Lie on your stomach with your legs straight out behind you. Fold your arms under your head and rest your head on your arms. Draw your belly button in towards your spine and tighten your abdominal muscles. Tighten the buttocks and thigh muscles of the leg on your injured side and lift the leg off the floor about 8 inches. Keep your leg straight. Hold for 5 seconds. Then lower your leg and relax. Do 2 sets of 15.
• Prone plank with hip extension: Lie on your stomach resting on your forearms. With your legs straight, lift your hips off the floor until they are in line with your shoulders. Hold this position and raise your injured leg toward the ceiling. Try to keep your knee straight while you do this. Do 3 sets of 10.
• Resisted hamstring curl: Place a chair facing a door about 3 feet from the door. Loop and tie one end of the tubing around the ankle of your injured leg. Tie a knot in the other end of the tubing and shut the knot in the door. Sit in the chair and raise your injured leg. Then bend your knee, bringing your foot down to the floor. Allow your foot to slide along the floor and move back underneath the chair, stretching the tubing. Slowly let your foot slide forward again. Do 2 sets of 15.

  You can challenge yourself by moving the chair farther from the door to increase the resistance of the tubing.

• Chair lift: Lie on your back with your heels resting on the top of a chair. Slowly raise both hips off the floor. Hold for 2 seconds and lower slowly. Do 3 sets of 15.

After your hamstrings have become stronger and you feel your leg is stable, you can begin strengthening the quadriceps (the muscles in the front of the thigh) by doing lunges.

• Lunge: Stand and take a large step forward with your right leg. Dip your left knee down toward the floor and bend your right leg. Return to the starting position. Repeat the exercise stepping forward with the left leg and dipping your right leg down toward the floor. Do 2 sets of 8 to 12 on each side. When this gets easy, you can do this exercise with small weights in your hands.