Hip Flexor Injury

[natedg72]

Hey everybody. I lurk a lot here and don't post much. I'm 28, been training off/on for about five years, but the first two were wasted just writing in my gym performance.

My previous squat max had been 375 with a low bar squat, for some reason I started high bar squatting and hit mid 300 weight when I injured my hip flexor. It started very gradual. Very slowly I moved from discomfort in the hole of a deep squat to actual pain. Being a stubborn dumbass I continued lifting until it became too painful.

I do not notice any pain when doing anything but a squat. The pain has actually gone away after about 7 weeks for BW squats. Now as I add any kind of weight that sharp pain as I break parallel comes back.

Things I have noticed as I try and recover:

Underdeveloped glute and ham on the side where my hip flexor hurts.
My knees were caving a bit with high bar squats, not with low bar though.
I can't feel my glutes working in high bar
I have been using a hack squat machine because there is zero pain or discomfort on it

So I was hoping to hear from others that have dealt with hip flexors. How long was recovery? What movements/activation drills did you find most helpful. How long until you were able to squat again pain free? Any thoughts on what I should be doing? And dammit I want to fricking squat again so bad.

BTW have made a doctors appointment but I live in Canada. I should get an MRI by the time I get my seniors discount.

 

[apizur**]

Lurk the forum rules. I'm not sure if you're gonna get much response here.

 

[natedg72]

Noted. If this is against the rules then can a mod please delete. Thanks for pointing that out.

I was just hoping to find others experiences and some moral support. Not treatment for the injury. Obviously I will use my doctors advice. I will read the rules now so I don't post something not allowed again.

 

[DonBude]

A couple of months ago I pulled my left adductor while squatting. I've had very similar problems to the ones you described: sharp pain when breaking parallel, being able to do everything but a weighted squat, the glute imbalance thing. It took me about 1 month to fully recover. It still hurts a little at certain angles but thankfully not at all when I squat.

Some things I did which I believe helped:
- Warm up better, especially hip mobility.
- Improve squat form: I used to almost dive bomb my squats which I think was one of the major reasons why the injury happened in the first place. I now kind of pull myself down into the squat and focus on not losing tightness in the hole. I also moved my stance in a bit.
- Lots of glute activation exercises before every training session
- Started squatting with just the empty bar for sets of 10, added weight the next time when there was no pain. I'd do this before every session.
- Don't rush it. At one point I thought I was fully recovered and immediately jumped back to my normal weights just to get re-injured and having to start all over.

Hope this was helpful!

 

[refugee]

try agile 8 to improve hip flexibility for pre-squat

 

[miaou]

Hip flexor strains and muscle spasms are annoying as fuck and take what feels like forever to heal.

I've had them from kick boxing 2-3 times and from squatting once. Currently, my right hip flexor is painful from sparring a bit too hard after not having sparred in years (has been painful for several weeks now and is gradually getting better).

Assuming it's a simple spasm or strain and not something different/more serious, you just need to give it the chance to heal by avoiding things that make it worse and being patient with it. Light stretching, and trying not to maintain a shortened position for long periods of time may help. One more thing that may or may not be of some benefit to you is working on hamstring and adductor flexibility (because, on the hole of the squat, it's these muscles that are pulling against the hip flexors trying to maintain the anterior pelvic tilt).

 

[Mossberg]

Anterior femoral glide syndrome. The pain isn't coming from the hip flexor. It's caused by the femoral head sliding into the hip joint capsule causing irritation and pain. This is caused by a muscle imbalance, basically a weak glute relative to quad and hamstring.

 

[Jester]

Anterior femoral glide syndrome. The pain isn't coming from the hip flexor. It's caused by the femoral head sliding into the hip joint capsule causing irritation and pain. This is caused by a muscle imbalance, basically a weak glute relative to quad and hamstring.

This is the problem with these type of threads, if they stayed within the confines of "what should i do to try and help this or work around it" i could leave it alone

Its when people start making diagnoses over the internet with virtually zero information that i have to kill the thread

Ill let you guys decide, ill be back in a little bit

 

[natedg72]

This is the problem with these type of threads, if they stayed within the confines of "what should i do to try and help this or work around it" i could leave it alone

Its when people start making diagnoses over the internet with virtually zero information that i have to kill the thread

Ill let you guys decide, ill be back in a little bit

I feel bad now. But don't worry I won't perform any self surgery or anything lol.

 

[Mossberg]

This is the problem with these type of threads, if they stayed within the confines of "what should i do to try and help this or work around it" i could leave it alone

Its when people start making diagnoses over the internet with virtually zero information that i have to kill the thread

Ill let you guys decide, ill be back in a little bit

It makes zero sense that you would have no problem with people giving advice that could potentially lead to a worsened injury, but a potential diagnosis that the TS could then research himself and discuss with a doc... well that's just out of bounds.

 

[Jester]

It makes zero sense that you would have no problem with people giving advice that could potentially lead to a worsened injury, but a potential diagnosis that the TS could then research himself and discuss with a doc... well that's just out of bounds.

Yes it is

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