Has anyone had hip flexor issues hiking/ climbing? I pushed a little too hard on Granite Peak last summer and really messed mine up—it is still lingering a bit. Anyhow, just wondering what works and what doesn’t? Thanks

I've had a hip flexor issue (right side only) but it seems to be related to dehydration. It gets painful when I start moving but goes away as I drink more water. Then again, I also had a snapping tendon on the same hip (getting older) which quickly disappeared once I started stretching more.

An illustration here:

<a href=http://http://www.fitstep.com/Advanced/Anatomy/Hip_flexors.htm>Hip Flexors</a>

I used to have an issue, but then realised the cause was through slouching - remaining static when standing and the hips uneven (one leg bent and the other straight). It's soon fatigues this group.

I took a pretty nasty hip injury in soccer years ago. The injury would flare up while hiking, esp. steep, sustained up-hills and/or when carrying a full (overnight/week) pack.

I found that a) increasing my core stength and b) greatly increasing my flexibility (targeted stretches; yoga several nights a week) has resolved this issue entirely.

Good luck!

The 2 things that aggravate my tendonitis are:

1) overuse - running & consecutive long days with talus (I backed way off on my trail mileage; was running 40-70 mi a week)
2) not running/hiking every few days

PM me your email and I can send you a copy of the exercises my PT provided. They focus on stability/strengthening/stretching. The take only 10-15 per day and all you need is a resistance band and a mirror to check your form.

Often this is a result of a tight IT band -look into exercises that stretch it.

Moni wrote:Often this is a result of a tight IT band -look into exercises that stretch it.

+1 When I used to run track, this is what our trainers would focus on for this injury and it would usually help with the recovery. Hip flexors do take a long time to recover fully and will often be a nagging injury.

I had a total hip replacement almost two years ago. My hip flexors on that side don't bother me at all, but the ones on my non-surgical leg get tight and sore after hiking, particularly if on rough trails.

I think my leg strenght is equal at this point and a PT has watched me hike and said I don't favor either leg while hiking. Stretching helps, but I wonder why the flexors on that side are getting so tight.

That last post raises a good question—is it bad to favor a leg while hiking? Would this increase/ decrease my chance for a hip flexor injury?

I think fossana's 2nd point is pretty relevant: if you injure a tendon and don't actively use it (lightly) every so often, it will either not recover or degenerate. Hiking is a great prescription for many leg tendon injuries because there are low impact forces and a huge range of motion due to stabilizing a heavy upper body on rough ground. I had a chronic Achilles tendonitis due to cycling too much (when I was 19!), and it lingered through a year of light activity until I did JMT, which helped it totally heal up.

The major flexors of the hip are, as Raymodo pointed out Psoas, Illiacus (and to a lesser degree Rectus Femoris.) There is an informative discussion of working through inflammation / injuries to these muscles on this board: http://www.pilatesconnections.com/index.php?/topic/1714-psoas-inflammationstrain/

You'll have to wade through the Pilates talk. It gets into practical stuff at post #7...

edit: Several posters refer to "stomach massage." This is a Pilates exercise for the abdominals, not a massage technique. The point of the exercise is to help a person distinguish between using the abs or the hip flexors when doing movements like sitting up from lying. A person who has trouble keeping their feet down when doing a situp is using the hip flexors to bring the feet toward the upper body rather than using the abs to bring the upper body toward the feet. You can guess what I think when I see someone doing situps with an assistant holding their feet down.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply--Lots of good information.

Mine bug me sometimes and have ever since high school. Trouble is that I spend much of my day seated in front of a computer, so both my hips and my hamstrings are really tight. Two things have helped me:

I stretch my hamstrings after every workout, and I do hip opening stretches.

I to the "Jane Fonda Complex" from Mountain Athlete.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhpoecepBTQ&feature=PlayList&p=D232E93AF198BABD&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=15