Why Do My Hip Flexors Hurt?
The hip flexors are made up of three different muscles. The rectus femoris muscle, psoas major muscle, and illiacus muscle. These muscles work together to help flex the hip and to provide stability for the lower extremity.
The rectus femoris is one of the quadriceps muscles and also helps with knee extension. The iliopsoas group runs from the lower spine and pelvis to the femur.
These muscles can be strained during activities and can cause pain and loss of motion in the hip.
The most common cause of hip flexor injury is acute trauma. You may experience one specific instance when you felt your hip flexor pull. This may have been when you broke into a sprint, made a cut, or kicked a ball.
Tight muscles and poor flexibility will contribute to hip flexor injury. When muscles are tight, there is an increased amount of tension in the tissues. When this increased tension is added to by an explosive movement, injury can occur.
Hip flexor strain can also be caused by compensation for other injuries or weakness of other muscles. This is common if you have core muscle weakness. When the lower abdominal muscles do not stabilize the pelvis, the hip flexor muscles will try to compensate for this weakness and become overworked.
Improving your flexibility is the key to successful treatment and prevention of re-injury. Hip flexor injuries can very easily become chronic in nature, especially if you return to activities too quickly, or fail to address any flexibility problems.
In order to completely recover from a hip flexor injury, you must address the mobility, flexibility, balance, and strength issues that led to your injury. Otherwise, you are doomed to suffer a recurrence.
Summary
By learning more about hip flexor injuries, we can better understand how to prevent and treat symptoms associated with them. When hip flexor injuries are present, whatever is required depends on the area affected and the symptoms present, and that is why it is important to have a team of doctors that is able to identify the root cause.
At BBC Health in Lewisville, Texas, we know how to identify, treat, or refer in the proper direction for any problems with your hip flexors. As a primary care provider, we can quickly provide medical, chiropractic, and rehab treatments in order to get you well as fast as possible. If you’re suffering from pain, don’t delay, and contact us immediately to see how we can help.
