Problem: Hip flexor (really tight, sharp pain). Prevents normal walking. Left side only. Surrounding musculature is tight (groin area), but doesn’t hurt.
Cause: At martial arts class i did a lot of hip flexor work. (i.e. Lot of kicking and knees, no target). Both hips were really tired from this, but not giving any trouble. Later last night, got some shin splints due to trigger point on the outside of my calf. Fixed. Went to sleep. Woke up with current problem.
What i have done so far: Stopped creatine. Checked for trigger points in surrounding muscles and couldn’t find any. Used Traction and some very light massage on the joint and surrounding muscles respectively. Worked ok, but not great.
What should i do (in addition to what i have done)? When will i be able to get back to bussiness? Could there be an additional problem that i missed?
Keep the muscle in a position of ease (shortened) for right now. Don’t stretch it yet. That will probably make it tighten up even more in response, unless you use gentle PNF or MET techniques. The muscles spindles are probably hyperactive, and you need them to calm down before trying to elongate the muscle.
The constructive rest position is a good place to start. Basically, lie on your back with the knees bent at about 90 degrees. Stay like that for about 10-20 min. This takes tension off the psoas (and muscle spindles) and allows the muscle to relax.
I’m not too sure how many times to try it. It’s not like icing a muscle. But I would recommend the constructive rest position for at least ten minutes (preferable 20) before attempting to get any range.
Here’s a gentle elongation exercise for the psoas. Stand on a slight elevation (block, bench, thick book, etc.) on the good leg with the tight leg allowed to swing free. Very gently let the tight leg swing back and forth like a pendulum (just a few degrees). Gravity provides a light traction on the leg as it swings, allowing the psoas to elongate.
I tried that posture with the light mobility drill and did that combination about 7 times last night with some light massage before bed. I have found that sitting in a chair helps too. It seems to have done a lot of good. The left hip does not hurt as much and has a little bit larger range of motions. (A good nights sleep really helped too).
This morning, i prodded my legs and noticed that both hip flexors are hosed (but still has a decent range of motion) and both my hamstrings are pretty tender. (Could be from overuse after injury or could be part of the injury). Glutes won’t fire unless i have something to press against.
I think that i am going to continue with what i did yesterday and try to add in some walking (as i can walk symmetrically now and it appears to loosen my hips a little).
Your hamstrings might be sore from DOMS coming from all the air kicks you did. If you’re not striking a target, the hip extensors have to fire eccentrically to brake the kicking motion.
That makes sense. I have been doing a lot of hvy bag work recently instead of air work (as it gives more direct feedback). Sunday was the first bit of air kicking in while (and endurance work at that).
On another note, it was a good thing that i planned a deload week this week. Hopefully everything will be somewhat back to normal soon. (Famous last words…)
Today i can finally walk normally. Hamstrings have started to play nicer as well. Yesterday i was able to do light tempo consisting of jumping jacks and walking. This combined with massage helped a lot. I am guessing that this will take a few more days until i can do normal tempo again. If all goes well, i will lift upperbody on friday. Probably no martial arts practice till saturday…
I will. It is a lot more fun and probably better for my technique. That was probably the last time i cross-train with that class…
BTW, i did some light tempo today and my usual mobility circuit. I think i might be 24 hours away from being back to normal…(still not going to do air kicking for a while though…)
