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7 Jan 2011

Knowing More about Hip Flexor Injuries

Author: randi | Filed under: Sports Rehabilitation

Hip flexor injury is very common in sports, especially soccer, football, and running. Caused by explosive movements, injury to these muscles can be painful, and cause all kinds of problems. Hip flexor injury occurs as a result of vigorous movements of the hip flexor joint. The hip flexor consists of three sets of muscles that work together to make the hip joint movable and also adds strength to lower part of the body. These muscles are under a lot of stress while performing activities like running or kicking ball. Any kind of strain or pull to these muscles gives rise to hip pain and the motion of the hip joints get affected.

Hip flexor injuries can be categorized into three different types. The type 1 hip flexor injury is the least severe form and is caused when there is a minor tear or strain in the hip muscles or tendon. The type 2 injury is caused when the muscles are partially torn, and it is very painful. The most severe is the third category where the muscles are ruptured completely. This is quite a rare form of hip flexor injury.

The most common symptom of a hip flexor strain is pain. It occurs along the front of the hip and may radiate down the front of your thigh. Your pain will increase with movement, especially trying to lift your knee toward your chest. Running, jumping, and even walking can be painful, and your sports performance may be limited.

Hip flexor injury is diagnosed with the help of physical examination of the injury site, history of the patents activities and x-ray. Application of ice pack, oral intake of pain killers and rest are advised for the pain management. To ease off the pressure from the injured hip area while sleeping, keep a pillow in between the legs. Hip flexor injury recovery time is the least in case of a minor injury, though for a partial tear of the muscle, a few weeks of rest is a must. For a breakage in the muscle, complete rest for a longer period of time, may be some months, along with regular physical therapy is required. Once the pain subsides, steps are taken to improve the strength and flexibility of the hip flexor muscles.

Hip flexor injury exercises are highly beneficial for this purpose. These exercises involves simple stretching of the hip muscles and joints. It is recommended that these exercises are done everyday and under the supervision of an instructor. This will speed up the healing process, and at the same time, restore the normal functioning of the hip flexor. Read more on hip pain exercises.

When you get hip flexor injury, it is a must that you do not try to return to usual sports activities very soon. If the injury is not properly healed then it can make the hip flexor injury a chronic pain problem. Once the strength, mobility flexibility and body balance is normalized, then only you can resume your sporting activities. A good warm up before any sports activities can bring down the tension of the muscles, and as a result it will be less prone to injury. Therefore, make a habit of doing warm up exercises before playing any sports.


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