Nerve Flossing

neilmacd

Hi EN,

I have been dealing with what I had thought to be really tight hamstrings for a while, and not making any headway with a stretching regime.  My PT told me this week following an assessment that I actually have a nerve tightness/impingment problem, since she was able to exacerbate my discomfort by changing my foot angle (pulling toes towards me) while I was stretching hams.

I'm wondering if anyone in the Haus has any experience with "nerve flossing" techniques that I've been recommended to follow to alleviate this....

Cheers,

Neil

Leigh Boyle

Wow. I haven't heard it called flossing in forever.

Essentially the techniques are nerve stretches to relieve tension. Out of curiosity- are the symptoms only in your hamstring or have they moved around some during the course of the injury??

torontoquads

Hey Neil,

Part of my treatment for sciatica is a "nerve flossing" exercise. I dangle my legs off the bed in a seated, head-down-slumped position, then as I raise one leg slowly (from the knee) I simultaneously raise my head. Weird, but it seems to work.

Best wishes,
Elly

neilmacd

@Leigh: The main symptom, other than my bike fit guy rolling his eyes when he gets his goniometer out on my straight-leg hip angle, is what I thought was a hamstring overuse injury when I ramp run mileage. This is pain and stiffness at and just above the fibular head - always in the same place - which I'd thought was due to an overuse problem with the long head of the biceps femoris. I'd handled that in the past successfully by being more circumspect in ramping run mileage. I have been working diligently on hamstring stretches to try to make headway on better flexibility, and hopefully give myself a bit more headroom in the future. I have been making zero progress. My PT showed the same nerve tension issue on my asymptomatic right leg too. So now I'm working both legs with these nerve flossing moves. I'm wondering how much progress I can expect. If I understand correctly, this is what's limiting my flexibility, and likely what was actually causing my pain and stiffness in the first place.

@Elly: Thanks! Glad to hear that it's working for you!

Leigh Boyle

so then you have pain in your hamstring and on the outside of your leg above the knee or just above in that one spot??

neilmacd

@Leigh - the overuse pain is just on the outside of the knee, below the knee at the fibular head. It eases after a few days of overdoing it. No hamstring pain per se, just a lack of flexibility that prevents me getting a decent angle of lift when I lie on my back and do a straight leg raise. I'm wondering how much flexibility improvement I'm likely to get.

Leigh Boyle

the key with flexibility is patience and repetition. very possible to get all mobility back (even if it's been years), you just need to stay after it.

any weird stuff- numbness, tingling??