If you are experiencing hip flexor pain, but you’re not sure what causes then pain, this article can help you answer those questions. Alternatively you can check the other information on this site and we always recommend to visit a medical practitioner to confirm diagnosis.

We can determine 3 main types of hip flexor pain or problems:

Lifting your knee:

Hip flexor pain mostly happens while lifting the leg. In most cases when you experience pain during this tipy of move it points to a pulled muscle. In many cases the psoas.

Pulled Hip Flexor

Pulled musles genereally happebn firs time after an explosive movement. A lot of times after you have been sitting for a long time, or after a long time of non-movement. The muscles have shortend and then you trip….The result: a sharp pain in the groin.. One of the ways to konw is by standing on the opposite foot and liftin your knee to your chest. If you feel any pain in the groin or pelvic area, stip immediately and consult a professional. This easy test gives a quick indication that you pullled a muscle form the hip flexor family.

Constant Hip Flexor Pain

If oy have  a continuous, cronic hip flexor pain, like a nagging uncomfortable feeling: you might have an inflameation of one of the tendons attaching the muscle to the bone. The technical term is tendonitis. tendonitis.

Hip Flexor Tendonitis

Generally Hip flexor tendonitis is caused by overuse, stressing the muscles or tendons until they protect you and themselves against further damage: they send a pain signal. When doing  repetitive movement in your workplace, or doing sports (e.g. cycling) where the hip flexors are put on continuous stress: the tendons are working hard. If you don’t take care and give the enough warm up before, and stretches after the movement or exercise, they can be over stressed.This will lead  to inflammation of the tendons or muscles called hip flexor tendonitis.

Bruising- Sensitive hips

Because the hip flexors exists of multiple muscles and tendons, it can be quite difficult to pinpoint the proble,  To define a general issue in the hip area, we will call is a bruised hip flexor. We talk about a bruised hip flexor when the trauma was caused by a bump or blow to the area.

Bruised Hip Flexor

It can be hard to determine the exact cause of the pain:  a bruised hip flexor can be a pulled muscle because . The lifting the leg test will tell you you have a problem, but not exactly what the problem is. More thorough examination will be required. If it is only a bruised hip flexor,  the area will be sensitive when you touch or probe with your fingers. Lift your leg and try to determine if the pain is worse when you probe than  when you only do the movement.   If the pain while applying pressure is worse than when you don’t apply pressure during the leg lift: you probably have a pulled muscle. If you have a bruised hip, this will only require a few days of being careful and the bruise will disappear. Applying cold compresses the first few hours, and warm compresses later in the process will help to speed up recovery. Also low intensity movement will stimulate blood circulation and help you getting back to full recovery faster.

Pulled Hip Flexor Classification

One a pulled hip flexor has been diagnosed, the injury is classified into one of three severities. Depending on this diagnosis a course of treatments can be determined.

First Degree of pulled Hip Flexor

You have some discomfort moving your knee upwards, but you are able to pull it up to your chest. If you have full movement without great pain, we talk about a first degree injury. Probaly there is a minor tear of minor overstretching of one of the musles. This type of injuriy generally will go away with a few days of rest and being careful.

Second Degree Hip Flexor Strain

You can pull your knee up only part of the way to your chest. You feel a lot of pain while doing this. In this case you probably have a second degree strain. Take care not to increase the tear, consult your medical team and go with their recommendations with regards to treatment. You don’t want to end up with a fully torn muscle or tendon..

Third Degree Hip Flexor Strain

You have trouble moving your leg up at all and feel excruciating pain. We recommend you visit doctor or hospital and get full medical treatment. If the muscle or tendon is fully torn, generally surgery will be your only option.

Hip Flexor Pain: Conclusion

Hopefully we  assisted you in finding out a bit more what is happening in your body.  We always recommend to see a qualified medical practitioner who is trained and have the equipment like scans or x-rays to determine the extend of  your condition.