Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAnatomyCausesSymptomsDiagnosisTreatmentPreventionUseful ExercisesFAQs
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Anatomy
Causes
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment
Prevention
Useful Exercises
FAQs
The hip flexor muscles are a group of muscles situated near the top of your thighs that allow you to lift your knee toward your chest and bend forward at the hip. This includes the iliacus, pectineus, psoas major, rectus femoris, and sartorius muscles that work together to enable hipflexion.
When these muscles are placed under extreme stress from explosive movements like jumping or running, they can be injured. This can lead to a hip flexorstrainin which one or more of the muscles are stretched or torn.
This article explains how the hip flexor muscles work as well as the common causes of hip flexor pain, stiffness, or tightness. It also explains how to treat hip flexor injuries and how to prevent them with stretches and strengthening exercises.
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Hip Flexor Anatomy and Function
Flexion refers to bending movements that decrease the angle between two body parts. When a flexor muscle contracts, it draws two bones together, bending at a joint.
In the case of the hip flexor muscles, they draw together the upper leg and torso at the hip joint. These muscles get a workout whenever doing movements like climbing stairs, running, or riding a bicycle. If the muscles are flexed while sitting, they aren’t working.
Asedentary lifestylecan lead to weak and tight hip flexors. Tight hip flexor muscles can lead to a limited range of motion, poor posture, lower back orhip pain, and injuries.
The muscles that make up the hip flexors include:
Causes of Hip Flexor Pain
Hip flexion pain can be due to an injury or postural issues that contribute to muscle tightness.
Injuries
You can strain or tear your hip flexors when you make sudden movements such as changing directions while running or kicking.
Sports and activities where this is likely to occur include:
You’re more likely to get a hip flexor injury if you’ve had one in the past, you don’t warm up properly, or your muscles are weak from overuse.
You can also strain a hip flexor when you slip and have a bad fall.
Postural Issues
Postural issues contribute to hip flexor weakness, pain, and injury. According to the National Exercise Trainers Association, a large proportion of the population has dysfunctional hip flexors due to poor posture, faulty biomechanics, and sitting too much.
Thereafter, if you engage in strenuous activity or simply take a wrong step, the shortened hip flexor muscles can becomestrained or sprained. The change in gait can also cause knee, ankle, and foot pain.
Hip Flexor Injury Symptoms
The chief symptom of a strained or torn hip flexor is pain where your hip meets your thigh. The symptoms can vary and may involve:
With a complete tear, it may be difficult to even walk.
What Is a Frozen Hip?
Diagnosing Hip Flexor Problems
Muscle injuries are commonly graded so the appropriate treatments can be prescribed and your healthcare provider has a better sense of your prognosis (likely outcome).
Grade 1 (Mild)
A grade 1 injury is a small tear in your muscle that’s mildly painful and may cause some minor swelling and tenderness. You’re able to continue doing your regular activities, including sports. It may take a couple of weeks to recover fully.
Grade 2 (Moderate)
A grade 2 injury is a larger tear that causes moderate pain when you move. Swelling, tenderness, and limping are common. You may have a 5% to 50% loss of function. You cannot go back to sports activities until the tear is completely healed.
Grade 3 (Severe)
A complete tear in your muscle causes severe pain and swelling. You can’t bear weight on that leg, making it difficult to walk. You will also have lost more than 50% of your muscle function. These injuries are less common and may need surgery to repair.
Hip Pain When Walking: Why It Happens and Treatment
Hip Flexor Treatment
As long as it’s not severe, you should be able to treat your hip flexor strain at home with pain relievers and the PRICE protocol.
The PRICE protocol is an acronym for protection, rest, ice application, compression, and elevation. It involves:
You can use over-the-counternonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)like Advil (ibuprofen) or Aleve (naproxen) to reduce pain and swelling.Tylenol (acetaminophen)works for pain relief but doesn’t treat inflammation and swelling.
With the appropriate treatment, recovery from mild to moderate hip flexor strain can take anywhere from one to three weeks. Severe grade 3 strains can take up to eight weeks and may require surgery.
When to See a Healthcare ProviderIf your symptoms don’t improve within a couple of weeks or you start having a hard time moving your leg and/or hip, it’s time to see your healthcare provider. Your injury could be more severe than you originally thought. It may require other treatments, or it may be unrelated to the hip flexors entirely.
When to See a Healthcare Provider
If your symptoms don’t improve within a couple of weeks or you start having a hard time moving your leg and/or hip, it’s time to see your healthcare provider. Your injury could be more severe than you originally thought. It may require other treatments, or it may be unrelated to the hip flexors entirely.
Physical Therapy
You may be given exercises to do at home, including hip flexor stretches. If your strain is severe or it isn’t getting better, you may need to see aphysical therapistwho will help you work on graduallystrengtheningand stretching your muscles. Complete tears may require you to use crutches until you’re healed and to seek surgery to reconnect the muscle.
You can also consider soft tissue release techniques andtrigger point therapy. These are both alternative therapies that help treat and relieve pain. A soft tissue release is an advanced form of massage therapy that targets specific muscle fibers that have become damaged or tangled up and helps stretch and strengthen them.
Trigger point therapy focuses on trigger points, which are areas that cause pain when they’re compressed. However, when pressure is put on these trigger points, it can actually relieve pain. This can be done with dry needling,chiropractic care, or massage.
Preventing Hip Flexor Problems
To prevent hip flexor injuries, keep these tips in mind:
Hip Flexor Exercises
Don’t push too hard or move too quickly. These stretches and exercises shouldn’t hurt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Symptoms of tight or weak hip flexors include a limited range of motion, lower back and hip pain, and poor posture.
It depends. Stretching your hip flexors before and after physical activity or anytime they feel tight can help relieve pain and improve therange of motion. But use your judgment. In general, a stretch should feel good or mildly sore. Stop if stretching your hip flexor increases your pain.
4 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Hip flexor strain—aftercare.National Exercise Trainers Association.Tight hip flexors can cause lower back pain, knee pain and foot pain.Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata GL, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;4(1):39-46. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039Mount Sinai.Hip flexor strain - aftercare.Additional ReadingAmerican Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Hip strains.Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata G, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;04(01):039-046. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039.Massagetique.Soft tissue release.
4 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.MedlinePlus.Hip flexor strain—aftercare.National Exercise Trainers Association.Tight hip flexors can cause lower back pain, knee pain and foot pain.Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata GL, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;4(1):39-46. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039Mount Sinai.Hip flexor strain - aftercare.Additional ReadingAmerican Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Hip strains.Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata G, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;04(01):039-046. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039.Massagetique.Soft tissue release.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
MedlinePlus.Hip flexor strain—aftercare.National Exercise Trainers Association.Tight hip flexors can cause lower back pain, knee pain and foot pain.Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata GL, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;4(1):39-46. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039Mount Sinai.Hip flexor strain - aftercare.
MedlinePlus.Hip flexor strain—aftercare.
National Exercise Trainers Association.Tight hip flexors can cause lower back pain, knee pain and foot pain.
Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata GL, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;4(1):39-46. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039
Mount Sinai.Hip flexor strain - aftercare.
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Hip strains.Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata G, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;04(01):039-046. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039.Massagetique.Soft tissue release.
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Hip strains.
Grassi A, Quaglia A, Canata G, Zaffagnini S.An update on the grading of muscle injuries: a narrative review from clinical to comprehensive systems.Joints. 2016;04(01):039-046. doi:10.11138/jts/2016.4.1.039.
Massagetique.Soft tissue release.
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