Dude, I've been fighting with hip flexor issues for about a year now (since a seemingly harmless fall in a CX race last fall), I tried what it sounds like you are trying (to run until it hurts) but it never really healed. I would feel OK for about 2-3 days and then I could run a step (sometimes even ride) for a week. So I took ~6 weeks totally off running (this was last Oct-Nov) then VERY gradually increased my volume for the next ~6 weeks with absolutely no intensity and very few hills. It got to the point were I was able to manage the injury through some pretty long and hard training but it flared up on occasion throughout the year.

Soft tissue release and active isolated stretching helped get me through the season. I tried ART but it didn't work for this (but has worked wonders for other injuries so it may be worth a try for you)

Good luck!
Ian

I did this during marathon training last year. It took many weeks to recover.

A PT gave me some isometric exercises that really helped. I am supposed to do them before any run. I still do them (at least before any long runs).

I also did some water-running in the pool. That was tolerable.

This is not an easy thing to get rid of. I did mine running up a mountain in California in the freezing rain, my brother and I thought we were going to be one of those "mountain statistics" at several points during the climb. My solution, strangely enough, was marching in place (knees high in front of me) combined with ice and easy stretching. The problem essentially for me wasn't in the tendon itself, but in the muscle attaching to it. That muscle was extremely weak compared to everything else, and was in a constant daily point of cramping. Strengthening the muscle itself substantially combined with loosening it through stretching and massage did eventually work. Every once in a while it comes back, like during last weekend's Space Coast Marathon...I had a Gu pouch sitting right on top of that section of hip flexor and after 5 or 6 miles it hurt like hell. YMMV, this helped for me.

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Aren't anchored situps (someone/thing holds your feet down) mostly hip flexors? When I started doing them, my hip flexors gave out before my abs.

I fought a similar issue for roughly 8 months in total earlier this year (although I couldn't run at all w/o significant pain so don't get too depressed about the timeline). I first tried to deal with it myself like you, then finally got some medical help. The combination of ART and physical therapy, in which the PT had me doing stretching and strengthening exercises (and also new orthotics), finally got me back running pain free. My suggestion would be to at least see a physical therapist for an evaluation rather than trying to figure it out on your own.

By "hip flexor", you're dealing with a number of different muscles. Psoas Major, Iliacus, Sartorious, Rectus Femoris are the major movers that I can think of and there are others that are also involved. It's almost impossible to accurately pinpoint, but that doesn't really matter since treatment is always the same.

Take some time off and do the "fencer's stretch" regularly. Do a google for the stretches for this injury. If that doesn't work there are a zillion therapies - chiro, PT, massage, ART, electro-therapy, ultrasound, accupuncture, orthotics, etc. Different strokes for different folks, they all work differently for different people.

This injury can be a SOB. My wife was off for 3-4 months and took all the above therapies regularly in her time off. Accupuncture was what seemed to work best for her, but she tried every one of the things listed. The positive note is that she eventually came back stronger than ever and it hasn't bothered her since.

Also get an x-ray of your hip if this continues. I remember seeing a case of an avulsion fracture in the hip that was unnoticed for a long period of time.

i sympathize with you because i struggled with this for two years before finally finding a PT who knew what to do. the main cause of mine was significant tightness, and surprisingly, very weak muscles on the side of my hips. they had me do a test of strength- simply lying on my side and lifting my leg up - and i could barely do 10 and was burning by the end. I went through a rigorous program of strengthening my abductors and adductors and lots of stretching, and am finally injury free. i still keep up with the stuff though, because if i stop doing it, i sometimes start to feel it again. good luck, you will get through it!

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"What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass for six hours a day. What are YOU on?" - Lance Armstrong

Think about vsiiting a chiropractor to assure your hips are aligned and loose, moving freely. Makes a Big difference. Also try getting a roller, and really work that space between your hip bone and the outer esge of your hips. Work the flexor muscles in there with the roller, and go down the IT band and the hams while you are at it. Its amazing at how integrated all of these muscles are. Other attachment muscles such as IT pull on the flexors. the idea here is to assure that all the attachments and hips are loose. Hope this helps.

I've strained my hip flexor before and it's not fun. The only thing that helped were stretches like the rectus femoris and the butterfly stretch. Lunges helped a little too, especially before I start running.

I also would do a combination of the stretches here - http://hipflexorsinfo.com/...p-flexors-stretches/ which helped speed up my recovery. Hope you worked everything out, but you're still having problems with your hip flexors give some of these stretches a try. Good luck.