8 ways to heal your hip flexor strain

Written by: Melanie Talastas-Soriano BA-Kin, CAT(C), ISSA-CPT
Athletic Therapist, Personal Trainer

Muscle strain can be bothersome to anyone that is active. The severity of a muscle strain is described as mild, moderate or severe depending on the muscle tear. Activities that can affect or injure the hip flexor muscles are running, dancing, jumping and sports that require lateral movements, explosiveness and twisting.

Hip flexor muscles are made of two individual muscles called psoas major and iliacus. Both crosses the (anterior) front portion of the hip joint. Iliacus is attached to the pelvis and down to the femur bone (greater tuberosity of the femur). The psoas major is attached to the lumbar vertebrae down to the femur bone as well.

When the hip flexor is strained, muscles around the area is also sore and sometimes achy. The body recognize changes or disruption to the muscle cells. The body protects itself by creating a splint (muscles tightening around the injured area). Pain, soreness, muscle tightness are all protective mechanism to help aid at the initial stage of the injury.

Here are the 8 steps to heal your hip flexor strain

Step 1. Rest your body from high intense activities. Do not stretch the hip flexor or lift your leg. Do your best to take a break for couple of days and listen to your body.

Step 2. Ice your injured hip to help decrease swelling to the area. Ice will also help decrease pain and soreness which assists to the healing process.

Step 3. Seek the help of an Athletic Therapist for in clinic care. After self-care, it is best to have a proper assessment of the injured area so that you can continue to rehab your hip flexor strain.

Step 4. To regain your flexibility, you can perform a light proposal stretch. Kneeling on one knee with the other bent at 90 degrees. Lean forward avoiding the hyperextension of your lower back, chest up and feel the stretch on the hip flexor. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times on each sides.

Step 5. To help release the tension on the hip flexor, perform a quadriceps stretch. Side lying or standing, bend the knee grabbing your ankle to feel the stretch on the quads. Hold he stretch for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times on each sides.


Step 6. Strengthening is key to prevent further injury so perform a plank. Don’t forget that the psoas major is a huge part of your core. When performing plank, focus on contracting your quads, glutes and core before lifting up to a plank. Hold each contractions for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.


Step 7. Bridge is another strengthening exercise to do. While contracting the glutes to lift up to a bridge, you will also get a slight stretch on the hip flexor and quads. Simple and effective exercise to help the hip flexor. Hold the contraction for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.


Step 8. After following these simple steps and when cleared by your doctor or your athletic therapist, you can slowly return to your activities. Controlled and sports specific exercise is the next step to a full recovery.


For more exercise and rehab tips, please visit our website at www,insahyu.com

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