I had a hip flexor injury about two years ago. And it was a "deep" pain. Two main things helped, first and foremost, rest. I ended up sidelined for two months. I tried running a couple of times in those two months but the pain always came back pretty quickly in the run. The other thing is, if you are just running, you need to strenghten the muscles surrounding your hip flexor. Do this by cross training (I am now doing triathlons as opossed to just running) or strenght training and really work on your core and other muscles surrounding your hips. It helps protect the hip flexor.

But really for me, time was the big healer.

Hi Jillymom, It was 3 months before I was diagnosed so I was walking around with just a little pain and a slight limp. I was teaching step aerobics and doing deep water running but could not run. I tried one saturday and could only go 1/2 mile. thats when I saw the sports doc and he looked at the MRI and said that it was a definite stress fracture and I had to stay off for 5 weeks. No deep water running , no step aerobics NOTHING!! That was hard! It first began back in August and I am now training for a half marathon in May. I did 8 miles last Saturday and will do 10 this Saturday with NO PAIN during the 8 miler!! Get in checked out! Don't delay and make it go as long as I did!!

Shayla

Jillymom, my hip started bothering me mid-Jan too. My hip flexor started feeling tight about 2 weeks before I stopped running. I was following the rule that as long as it doesn't hurt while you're running, it's okay. After my runs it was pretty achy and I'd ice it and take Advil, but it always went away within a day or two before I was supposed to run again. The last day I ran it was bothering me while I was running and then I was limping for 2 days. By then the pain had spread all the way around the outside of my hip and deep inside, but not in the groin area. I stopped running and was much improved after 2 weeks and the pain seemed to be completely gone after a month off, but as soon as I tried running I could tell the deep pain was still there with each foot strike on my bad side. On someone else's advice I went and saw a chiropractor. I was very surprised to hear his opinion that I had no muscle, tendon or ligament injury. He said my pelvis was rotated/tilted a half inch on one side causing dysfunction in the joint and it was pulling my leg up making it a half inch shorter. He adjusted it and my very next run was without pain. I couldn't believe it. That was 2 weeks ago. His treatment plan was for a total of 4 adjustments so I still have one more left. I've been running 3x/week without pain since he started adjusting me.

I hope you get your injury figured out soon. I know how frustrating it is. Keep us posted.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by shaylah:
I did and it wasn't muscular! It turned out ot be a stress fracture in the upper femur bone near the lesser trochanter. Get it checked becuase if you keep going on it you could fracture it through!! By the way, xrays don't usually show stress fractures. MRI's and bone scans do. <HR>

Like you, I am now officially in the hip stress fracture club. I had an MRI a week ago and the radiologist and orthopedist both found a stress reaction near the lesser trochanter, which is the underside of the femur. Since it is the compression side, it is less risky. However, I still have to avoid running until it heals, and avoid impact exercises -- distance walking, hopping, etc.

I had suspected this all along since having strong post-run pain in the front of hip after each run lasting 2 or 3 days. It was painful at the point of foot touchdown with each weight bearing step or with standing on one leg...About 4 days after running the pain would go away....The same thing kept happening when I tried to run off-and-on over 14 days until after 2 weeks I shut down my running completely and saw my doctor, who order a month rest.

After some research I found it could be stress fracture and not hip flexor. These heal much faster with complete avoidance of weight bearing recreational activities.

So for 4 weeks I did only swimming and upper body weights. Then I started core strengthening workouts and leg lifts at 4 weeks, in case it really was a muscle problem. I also asked for a referral to an OS to have him order an MRI at 4 weeks. I wanted to be sure before getting more aggressive in impact activities, because if you start back too early you just delay your healing from a stress fracture.

I saw the OS at 6 weeks, and he said I could do easy elliptical if it didn't hurt, but stop if it hurt...The MRI didn't get read until today (7 1/2 weeks after my last run).

It turns out I have a stress reaction in the lesser trochanter. The doctor said no running or distance walking for now and wants to see me in 6 weeks.

Meanwhile, since January I increased my calcium supplements (am lactose intolerant) and cut back my coffee to one cup a day and cola to one or two cups, both of which can interefere with calcium update at higher levels of consumption.

Hoping now to get back to running in 2.5 months. The caution for the first 7 weeks paid off because the healing process was allowed to start and that should shorten my timeline to returning to running.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Jillymom:
Hi, I've been sidelined since mid-January with a hip injury. Doctor thought it was a strained hip flexor, and recommended rest from running, stretching, and inserting a pad in my left shoe raising it 1/4" (all of which I did).

I've been trying to run again for the past month since the pain went away. The problem is that a dull pain keeps coming back in the same area with running. I'm going much slower, inserting walk breaks and have cut mileage way back. AND I discontinue running for however many days until the pain goes away. This weekend I jogged/walked on a dirt path and it still bothered me afterwards. I'm not running through the pain, because it clearly gets worse the more I jog/walk.

I'm also not convinced it's the hip flexor, since it bothers me on the side of the hip and deep inside. Also, I've been on the stationary bike and it doesn't bother me one bit.

Has anyone had a similar experience and how did you get back to running regularly? Many thanks for any advice!<HR>