Advice on what to do with a sore hip muscle

HarlequinnAsh

I am 22 and should not be having any kinds of hip problems, especially since I was never an athlete and never abused my body. Alas I did have a lot of knee problems when I was younger and I think I might have even tore a muscle in my upper thigh. Where the thigh meets the pelvis on the inside of the leg I get this severe tension which will sometimes cause me to limp because its utterly painful. I dont get this from normal day to day walking but only if I walk for extended periods of time, or more importantly, run. I run for about 5 minutes before it starts to bother me and stop so I am able to walk back home.

I dont really know what I should do for this. I need cardio because I need to slim down my thighs and stomach, no amount of squats or crunches will do this it will only tone the muscle. I know I worked in a gym long enough to know the difference between toning and actually losing mass. I need to lose the mass in my lower half with cardio before I can do serious strength training to tone it. I was wondering if anyone else ever had this problem and what you did for it? I would like to get back into the gym and use the elliptical because that worked wonders for me! But any other forms of cardio you may know of would be great!

meshashesha2012

sorry but that makes no sense to lose muscle mass just so you can go back and rebuild it? why not just keep what you have now and not make your work twice as hard? it sounds like what you want to do is reduce your body fat. that isnt toning the muscle (which anatomically doesnt mean anything) that's just losing the fat on top of the muscle..

to lose fat you need to eat at a deficit. that's working great for me. i tend to have large thighs and i'm lifting heavy weights to keep my muscle while i lose weight but my thighs are getting slimmer mainly because i'm eating at a deficit and working out to burn fat.

for the hip issues, muscles work in tandem so it's possible that you have tightness in your hip flexor/groin area. work on stretching that area along with quads and hamstrings and low back as well as foam rolling.

lisaidem

I'm not going to say anything about the toning versus cardio, other than I disagree with your reasoning. I would second the stretching and foam rolling especially. I'm not sure where your pain is--kind of sounds like the groin? which stretching will help. If it on the outside of your hip/thigh or on the thigh itself, foam rolling works miracles.

sidhe31

It sounds like you have a strained adductor or something very similar. My 2 cents is for you to see a physiotherapist and have them assess the problem, either via ROM or similar tests. Basic stretching will most likely help you out, but a proper physio program will address the underlying problem as well as treating the symptoms. As I said, just my 2 cents on the matter.

jjblogs

I agree with the foam roller suggestion. Does wonders for my hips, knee stiffness and pain.

HarlequinnAsh

I will definitely try the foam roller and stretches. I dont have insurance so going to a specialist for my hip right now would cost a lot of money for a problem that isnt affecting my day to day life, only my desire to run or walk long distances. Thanks for the advice!

HarlequinnAsh

Its not losing muscle to just rebuild, its losing the bulk that I have and toning anything remaining, which with enough cardio I really wont need to. I was doing only strength training without cardio and although my thighs are pure muscle they got bigger along with my butt which is not what I want. I want to slim that down so I can wear my clothes and cardio is the best for slimming down without adding on additional muscle.

michellekicks

I messed up my hip flexor running once... hurt to lift it when walking... right where you're describing. It would also ache sometimes if I stood around for a long time. I would highly recommend you do your best to see a physiotherapist and rehabilitate properly with the right exercises and stretches. Having said that, if you can't, you should rest, ice, elevate etc... and maybe do only stuff that doesn't strain it: swimming, pushups, squats, abs... at least for a week or so, just to let it heal.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

HarlequinnAsh

Lol its not something recent unfortunately Ive always had this problem so its hindered my workouts. I worked at a gym 3yrs ago and I could be on the elliptical for an hour with no problem but if I walked a mile my muscle would get so sore. Im not sure if maybe I over compensate for my right leg and I keep pulling the muscle in my left side or what. I would have liked to do running or jogging just because its easy and free but if I cant do it then I cant do it and should just move on to something I can.

delco714

that's your "hip flexor".. the only treatment is REST.. ice.. and NSAIDs (like ibuprofen (advil), or naproxen sodium (alieve))..

if you dont rest it you'll keep exacerbating it and it wont heal

and when it feels better you need to focus on strengthen the muscles that make up the hip flexor and stretch and incr. flexibility!

HarlequinnAsh

My mother in law was in town for four days and I really pushed myself to walk. She wanted to see the city and I wasnt going to be a bum on the couch so I walked about 5 miles a day with her showing her everything. Saturday we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and all around Chinatown, it took about 3-4 hrs for my feet to bother me but my hip never did thankfully. Friday it bothered me so I headed home and relaxed because I knew Saturday was going to kill me. Thankfully it didnt keep me down like its done in the past so maybe getting in all that good walking really helped, plus I burned like 1000 extra calories than my goal so yay for that!

dad106

Its not losing muscle to just rebuild, its losing the bulk that I have and toning anything remaining, which with enough cardio I really wont need to. I was doing only strength training without cardio and although my thighs are pure muscle they got bigger along with my butt which is not what I want. I want to slim that down so I can wear my clothes and cardio is the best for slimming down without adding on additional muscle.

Your bulk is fat.. not muscle. If you lose the fat, you'll lose the bulk.

Eat a deficit, strength train and do moderate cardio and you'll be fine.