Could anyone clarify what hip flexor pain feels like? I have never had any pain here until my last run. Run went fine, same as usual and I noticed after (don't recall if it was same day or next morning), pain at the top of my leg where it meets the hip in the front, (i.e. straight up from my knee), but the pain was right at the joint between my thigh and hip. It's not on the side at all and feel like it is directly facing forward.

I really felt it going down stairs, it made my leg tremble. It wasn't incredibly painful, but I've never felt anything like this. I've been waiting to fully recover before running again and here it is almost 2 weeks later and I only feel like I'm at 90%. I can still feel slight twinges in that area.

Does that describe a strained hip flexor? Does a strain (or slight tear) require 2-3 weeks to fully heal/recover? I'm not training for anything, so I can afford to take off extra time to heal.

I've been going on bike rides and it doesn't bother me at all (even standing on the pedals), but when I simulate running in place, I still feel twinges when that leg lands.

I strained my hip flexor last year when training for a half marathon. The pain was at the top of my leg, right at the joint and toward the inner part of my thigh. It was painful to lift my leg when going up stairs, or if I was lying flat on the ground on my back, it would be very painful to try to lift my leg with the hip flexor strain.

I rested for about a week, stretched quite a bit, and from then on I closely monitored the pain, and would always ice and stretch the area after my runs. I could still feel it flare up a bit, but it gradually improved. I think my problem was I had completely neglected those muscles when doing strength training. So now I incorporate that into my workout, and once the strain had fully healed, I did more hill workouts, because it forced me to lift my legs higher and work my hip flexors more.