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Hip flexor pain when extending in a V
Basically, I have a really hard time with anything where my legs are extended in a "v" and lifted. It seems to only be an issue in the open, lifted position. A V on the floor doesn't hurt, but a V with my legs lifted does (as in the wrist seat). Lifting my legs in a pike position doesn't hurt, but extending them out into a V is killer sometimes!
I get a similar pain from the cross ankle/knee release sometimes, strangely. It doesn't happen all the time, but sometimes I have to take a few days off from those types of moves when my hips are acting up.
I recognize the pain as being in my hip flexors, sort of "inside" my leg on the front of my hip. Frequently my legs lock up and need to "pop" out of place as well at the hip. I have no clue what the problem is, and I haven't been able to find anyone else who has the same issue or knows what to do about it. Could it be a sign that my hip flexors are weak or inflexible? Or perhaps another weak muscle and I'm overcompensating with my hips?
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18 Replies
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Hmm. It will be interesting to see responses to this, because I have the opposite problem, in that my outer thighs seem to not allow me to lift my legs into a V.
I think my glutes are too tight, but no idea how to fix this!
I also get that 'pop" feeling in my hip joints as well with my legs. Even when warming up and doing leg rotations it clicks the whole way around, and doesn't move freely. It's a little uncomfortable.
But a good muscle for strengthening and stretching your hip flexors is a deep lunge.
Like that!
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I'd say you've hit it on the head Kyrelle – to me it sounds like your hip flexors need more stretching, and your quads and lower abs need strengthening.
I haven't had this problem myself, but I know some people who have similar issues with their hips. Generally a good warm up and stretch helps them avoid injuries/pulling muscles. The leg rotations and lunges that tallicachild mentioned would be good to warm up with.
As for strengthening, I would try leg lifts, lunges and squats…
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@tallica ugh! annoying, isn't it? i feel like i have the hips of someone four times my age! lol. i think it may be a matter of needed to be warmed up more before trying to even stretch or do leg rotations/lunges/etc.. maybe some light cardio beforehand would help.
@aerialvixen ahh my lower abs are quite weak compared to the rest of my core and lower body! always had issues with lower ab exercises. that's something i thought could be a possbility, not having great lower ab strength and overcompensating with my hips/quads and straining those muscles.
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You could try incorporating reverse crunches using the base of your pole for support to help strengthen your lower abs. I'm so glad the studio I learn at spends a good 10-15 minutes of each class going through conditioning work, so I can practice it at home too.
Hopefully though with frequent stretching you'll find your hip flexors are less painful! I am probably going to have to schedule an emergency physio visit tomorrow (calf muscle is incredibly painful due to a bad cramp I had the other day), so will ask for any tips while I'm there!
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Kyrelle – I have this same problem. I actually did a post about this a while back. We have hyperflexive hips. I have found a guy in my aerial silks class who says he has it as well, and unfortunately, the more flexible your hips get (like in the splits), the worse it gets. I've managed to get it semi under control by doing Veena's hip flexor exercises (but in doing so my hips have become less flexible.) It's like you said though, doing a boomerang or inverted V, my hips pop out of place and it hurts. I have to pull my legs in and pop them back in. It's more my right hip than my left. Crunches didn't help, lower ab work might have helped a little. Mainly working on hip flexor strengthening, and doing the part of her strengthening routine where she is doing leg lifts in all three directions (front, side and back) so it targets the surrounding areas of your legs and butt.
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By hip flexor stregthening, I mean the shtrengthening exercise Veena has. It really works!!
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Yay! Some snapping hip friends! (Strange thing to get excited about I know).I've had the same problem as you, Kyrelle with the pain at the front of my hip and it getting "stuck" at the front of my hip. So I'll pass on what I learnt from online research and my physiotherapist, but obviously I have no authority to give you advice, I'm just a random internet person 🙂
Pain and snapping/clicking/getting stuck on both the inside and outside of the hip are often caused by an overly tight or inflamed muscle or tendon getting caught on the bone when it slides over it. At the front of the hip it's usually the illiopsoas over one of the pointy bits of the pelvis, on the outside it's usually the illiotibial band getting caught on the greater trochanter. (I love anatomy).
If it's just a click it's harmless, but if it's also painful there's some injury and inflamation there so it'll need a bit of rest. (Not stopping pole altogether, just avoiding the painful bits for awhile). Gently stretching your hip flexors will help. I've found that doing a kneeling lunge and then lifting my back foot off the floor towards my butt (knee still on the floor so you might want a cushion) is really good. Stretching glutes also helps, though I'm not quite clear on why.
Foam roller can help relax the illiotibial band, and I think Veena covers that in lessons, but I found the inflamation in my illiopsoas was too deep to be foam rolled or massaged.
The other thing to do is find some ways to reduce the load on your hip flexors when you are in a V. I agree with strengthening your core so that your abs can take some of the load off your hip flexors. Also, I wonder if some hamstring stretching would help too, because if your hamstrings are tight they will drag your legs back down again.
Again, if you want qualified advice, you've come to the wrong person, but this is what I've learnt through painful experience. 🙂
Oh, and one more thing: if it doesn't go away make sure you go to a doctor/PT/whatever because in rare cases the cause can be torn cartilege and the symptoms are very similar. I had to have an MRI, complete with injection of dye into my hip socket because my hip pain lasted for months – luckily it was tendonitis, not torn cartilege!
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Check the position of your pelvis!! If your tipping it forward or backwards as you lift? This can cause pain. Also when your doing conditioning or strength work always stretch after, to help maintain muscle length.
Try working on theses Pole Leg Lifts https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/4db34cf5-c2bc-4c39-9487-24560ac37250whiile holding a neutral pelivs.
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The lesson Veena posted was one of the ones I was talking about! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif and this one! https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/4e1af31f-dc20-4e77-bd07-301c0ac37250
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So, I am still on crutches recovering from the surgery Cinara is talking about, arthoscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum (the cartilage in the hip joint) and shave the bone. The symptoms are exactly what you're describing. In many cases, including mine, it's made more likely by FAI (a deformation of the hip socket — bone spurs or impingement) that means if you move through extremes of motion, there is extra pressure on the hip socket lining.
I tore my cartilage doing a "swim" through straddle splits a la the Bespun ladies … think of Alethea's move through the middle splits. Afterward, lifted V, or a V on the floor where you push your torso down toward the legs, are the ones that really hurt me.
Not to worry though — I had discomfort, catching, and a "popping" feeling in my hips long before I tore the cartilage. These were frustrating but minor and always went away with rest, ice, and ibuprofen. The doctor thinks the pop was from a tight psoas muscle but also suspects I've always been able to slightly dislocate the hip. Before the cartilage tear, I made good progress reducing the hip pain by strengthening and stretching hip flexors, glutes, and quads.
I would only worry if:
a) your pain is so bad that it begins to interfere with your workout schedule or your life, and it doesn't go away after rest, ice, and NSAIDs
b) the pain is worse than it used to be, and/or there was a memorable incident where something "popped" or hurt in your hip in a big way
There are a couple steps toward finding out what is wrong with your hip. If your doctor can't diagnose you just by moving the leg around, the very first step is an xray. It's painless and it takes 10 minutes. If I had done this years ago, I would have known about the impingement, and I wouldn't have torn the cartilage. If your doctor wants to send you for an xray, GO!
Unless your doctor thinks you have a labral tear, you won't have to do any of the other scary stuff (MRI arthrograms). Hip surgery is not for wimps, it pretty much sucks. If it does get to that point, feel free to ask me any questions about the process, nothing is too weird. 🙂
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I am bringing this topic up again. This topic made me decide that I needed to get my hips checked out by a doctor since pain is never good. Got referred to an orthopedist. He took x rays of my hips. They were normal. He diagnosed me with both internal and external snapping hip syndrome. He said that snapping hip syndrome CAN hurt. I have been referred to physical therapy. Went to the PT today and the PT told me that the snapping of the hips can cause wearing of the tissue over time, so you want to get it under control. She also said she has 2 other dancers in there right now for the same issue, so I am number 3. She did a glut strength test on me, which I failed miserably. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_confused.gif She told me to foam roller my IT band and hip and she gave me an exercise to do to start working my tush until the next appointment.
Anyways, the point of me posting this is that I DID find out that it isn't just nothing. You do want to get it under control before it gets worse.
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Thanks Sensualscimitar!
I'm glad that it's nothign too serious with you, and you got it checked before you could do serious damage to it!
I am thinking I need to go to the physio and get it checked out. I have had pulled groin muscles in the past from refereeing soccer (sharp turns in running), but it's the outside of my hip / leg that clicks when I do e.g. leg circles. I didn't end up going when I said I would because I fixed that calf pain, but I will go this week! I also have trouble doing anything when lifting my legs into a V, but I'm positive that's because of how tight my glutes are.
I think it's time to invest in a foam roller!
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The ortho said that the snapping on the outside of the hips was external hip snapping syndrome, and the snapping on the tops of the hip flexors by the pelvic bone is the internal snapping hip syndrome. Sounds like you have the external only??
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Thanks for all the responses in this thread, they are all very helpful and informative. Mine would be only "internal", I think… my outer hips never give me problems, it's just right there in the hip flexor. I have thought of getting a foam roller, I probably should.
My issue has gotten better in the last few weeks. It happens a lot less often and the pain/popping is less severe, more of a mild inconvenience than an "OW I CAN'T STRAIGHTEN MY LEG AT ALL", so I think in my case it may just be that I need to strengthen my lower body and core. Hopefully. Every time I go to the doctor for a pain issue (went once for ongoing shoulder pain and again for ongoing pain in my ribs) they just tell me I strained a muscle, to give it a few weeks, and throw meds at me, so it really puts me off from going unless there's something really concretely wrong with me. I really need a new doctor…
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Does anyone find the rotation of the hip inward or outward matter when it comes to the irritating clicks?
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I am trying to find out a bit more and thought this might be useful. As others noted, the hip flexor exercises would be good but try to use the deep muscles as Veena noted in her video rather than the quads.
http://www.centerworks.com/pilates-exercise-how-to-fix-a-snapping-hip/For me, it happens mainly on my right because my right leg is longer. It’s the common lateral (external) extra-articular form. My greater trochanter (on the side of the femur) on my right actually protrudes more on my right leg because it’s longer, so that makes sense. It’s also my dodgier leg… weaker and tires more easily as well as less flexible. :/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapping_hip_syndromeWhile it’s only occasional and irritating, I think it can get chronic so I am trying to nip the problem in the bud.
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I know this is originally a pretty old thread, but since it’s been revised, I’ll add my experience to it.
About a year ago I had a hip flexor lock up. It wasn’t an acute injury, but more likely from overuse. The muscle essentially seized up. I’d been lifting weights for about 4 months with a focus on squats and dead-lifts (ala strong lifts). I wasn’t doing pole at the time, but I was doing a lot of aerial, specifically straight-legged inverts and swivel/beat work in silks. I had pain/burning in my hip, but nothing extraordinary. I had a good silks session but when I went to do splits on my left side in my cool-down, my hip basically said, “no way” about half way down. As the evening progressed it turned into an inability to even straighten that leg.
What I’ve done that has helped tremendously (though I still have general hip tightness I’m still working through):
1. I got a standing desk so I wasn’t sitting all day and shortening my flexors
2. I started rolling–the tennis ball was my best friend early on
3. I really started focusing on working the posterior chain. This is still a work in progress, but most of us have pretty weak posterior chains and strong front bodies. Aerial work only exacerbates this.
4. I started going to an ART specialist. The one I go to (Rikki Hacker if you happen to be in the KC area), is a competitive long distance runner and works out of a running store, and is amazing. ART really helps get those muscles to release. It still doesn’t hold for me and I have to go on a regular basis, but it’s the only thing I’ve ever done that actually improves my tight muscles and provides instant, noticeable relief.
5. I limit my straight legged invert work. I still need to work on engaging the deeper muscles on these. I’m so quad/hip flexor dominate that they immediately want to take over and then those pesky flexors get overworked and start complaining.
Anyway, work in progress but I thought I’d add. I do have popping hip on my right side (the one that locked up), but not always. It really depends on how tight/inflamed my hips are. My right glute is also weaker. I’m sure these are all related.
You can Google Bret Contreras for lots and lots of info on how to strengthen the posterior chain and why it’s so important.
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Revised… Haha, meant revived.
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