How to treat a hip flexor strain

Strain is a deformation of a muscle or tendon caused by overuses that result in injury, pain and swelling. Group of muscles that are located in front side of the hip are called hip flexors, and they are responsible for moving the knee upwards. When hip flexors are overused, some of them may be teared or damaged, and this condition is called hip flexor strain.

There are several grades of hip flexor damage, from just a light one (grade1), where only some muscled are damaged and pain is light, to severe damage (grade 3), in which case nearly all the muscles in hip flexor are damaged, and function of it is minimal or non existent.

Symptoms of hip flexor strain may be pulling sensation or sudden sharp pain in the groin or hip. Depending of degree of the injury, these symptoms may vary from mild to severe. Pain is usually felt when you try to lift your leg up, like climbing the stairs, and also pain and swelling may be present.

There are several factors that make your predisposition to have injury like that, and they may be;

geneticstight or weak musclespoor posture or biomechanicsfatiguejoint stiffnessinadequate warm up

Etc.

Psychotherapist usually examines your injury, and determines type or grade of it. It that is not conclusive extra examination such as MRI, X ray or ultrasound, may be needed.

Most common treatment for hip flexor strain includes some sort of psychotherapy, and it usually helps you to recover completely. In case you ignore the symptoms, or pain, and do not restrain yourself of any physical activity that is painful to you, your state of injury may progress from acute to chronic. That is way is so important for you to address problem immediately and consult your doctor.

In cases of minor injury, you should be able to recover in 1-3 weeks, but id case of more serious damage, your recovery time may be prolonged to 4-8 weeks or longer. There is some thing that you can do by yourself to heal your injury faster; set of special strengthening exercises, prescribed and supervised by your psychotherapist, start the running program slowly or apply ice packs on painful spot, especially in first days of the injury.

Other treatments in severe cases of hip flexor strain may include immobilization of joints, use of crutches, ultrasound or electro therapy, massage, biomechanical correction, etc.