Research Paper on Hip Flexors

Hip flexors are a group of muscles made up of the iliacus, psoas, pectineus, rectus femoris, and sartorius. Hip flexors are used for flexion of the hip or the action of brining the knee closer to ones chest.         

Hip flexor strains occur when overuse is in place. To give an example runners who participate in hurdles are sadly the perfect candidates for hip flexor strains. The repeated motion of jumping over potentially, 42 inch high hurdles puts extreme stress on the muscles made up in the hip flexor. The main muscles targeted in running are the psoas major, iliacus, and the rectus femoris. While all hip flexors muscles are used for explosive jumps. Hurdle events in track implement both running and jumping putting strain on all the muscles made up in the hip flexor.

Resulting in them being the large majority of patients having this injury. None the less other sports such as dancing, cycling, soccer, football, hockey, and matrial arts are also high ranked sports for this injury. The main structures affected by the hip flexor strains are the groins. Once again the hip flexor itself is made up of the iliacus a triangular muscles that lives deep within the pelvis and attaches the pelvis to the femur to aid flexion and circumduction of the thigh. The psoas major one of the largest structures in the hip flexor connecting the spine to the femur. It runs though the lower spine through the pelvis conjoining to the top of the femur. The third muscles apart of the hip flexor is the rectus femorus connects the pelvis to the patellar tendon. Fourth being the pectineus, a quadrangular muscle sitting on the inner thigh also know as the groin muscle is used for hip flexion, adduction, and rotation of the hip. The final muscle component of the hip flexor is the sartorius, a thin muscle that goes down the length of the femur, from the pelvis, to the knee (Quinn). Being one of the longest muscles in the entire human body. Although there are many structures of the hip flexor things such as sudden movements or changing direction during the act of running or kicking can cause strain on the hip flexor muscles leading to a sprain.

Although the simplest answer of what causes hip flexor strains is overuse the etiology goes much more in depth than that. There are three main components to why hip flexor strain occur. First of course being overuse, second being prolonged sitting, and finally but most important weak hip muscles (airrosti). Sadly like other injuries once a patient has had one hip flexor strain in the past they are more succeptable to another in the future (Quinn).  To go in depth on the idea of hip flexor overuse, seeing one of the hip flexors main responsibilities for the body is bring the knee closer to the chest (flexion)  patients in sports such as soccer are an another great example of athletes who are extremley susceptible to this injury. Seeing that running is a conjuction of flexion and extension, while kicking is the counter part of flexion at the hip and extension of the knee. Seeing that soccer players do this strenuously over time makes mens soccer players along with womenś hockey players the two highest hitters for this injury.  

The hip flexor muscles reside deep in the leg so diagnosing it could be potentially hard for physicians, but there are many potential symptoms that show making it easier to diagnois the injury. Symptoms such as sudden pain in the inner thigh, pain when stretching hip muscles, tenderness to the touch, and swelling or bruising in the thigh are all significant signs of someone having a hip flexor strain. Although it causes much pain a hip flexor strain is a less serious acute injury taking around 6 weeks to fully heal depending on the severity of the strain (nyothropedics).  Treatment for hip flexor strains are non-surgical. According to New York Othropedics, the strain can be cared for at home and doesn’t require medications. It states that with the injury “applying ice to the affected area in 10- to 15-minute increments. They will also recommend you avoid activities that will overuse your hip flexors. Additionally, gentle stretching exercises can help reduce muscle tension and decrease the likelihood of future injury.” (nyothropedics). Using methods such as these would helps sooth the pain and help ease back into having less pain with mobility. With athletes who have this injury it is best to only return to sports once the injury is completely healed with no pain because it could potentially worsen the injury leading towards permantent damage (The Sports Medicine Patient Advisor). Although there are not any indicated stages of hip flexor strain recoveries exercises can be implicated based on amount of pain patients are in. Immedatiley after the pain goes from extreme to mild discomfort the best thing to do is start stretching. Two great exercises to do with mild discomfort would be hip flexor stretches and quadricep stretches. The hip flexor stretch has the patient with both knee on the ground then slow elevate the injured knee forward with the patients foot resting on the ground. The patient should hold this postition for 30 seconds three times a day to losen tight hip flexor muscles. Another great exercise for mild discomfort is quadricept stretches, the patient is standing upright holding on to a table or wall with the lower ankle of the injured leg in their hands. The patient should pull their foot towards their buttocks and hold this postion for 30 seconds and once again repeat this 3 times. Once the feeling of mild discomfort goes to slight to no pain at all stretches such as heel slides, straight leg raises, and resisted hip flextion would help aid losening the tightness of the hip flexor and reduce the likelihood of getting the injury again according to the Sports Medicine Patient Advisor.