Last fall I started to get a pain in the front of my hip during and after cycling. It’s not of the IT band variety, rather, it hurts when I bring my knee up to my chest, especially if I hold it at my chest. The pain is right in the fold of my hip, in the center and a bit laterally. While I’m sure this could be caused by a number of things, I was wondering if anyone has had a similar problem and if they would describe how you resolved it (cranks too long, poor flexibility, muscular imbalance, et cetera). Personally, I think it feels more like tendinitis or a muscle spasm than muscular weakness, for what it’s worth.
Thanks for your input.
Sounds like a hip flexor. You could be too high on the saddle, or just not flexible in that area. You need to stretch that hip flexor by kneeling on one knee with the other foot on the ground going forward until you feel a stretch (keeping back straight) and counting to ten, then switch legs, repeat five times. Get massage with a sports-minded massage therapist and ask him/her to massage your hip flexor. You will probably almost jump off of the table when s/he works on it (especially when it is worked on through the stomach), but you will be better when you stretch and get this massaged regularly.
I’m with G Cottrell on this one. It definitely sounds like you’re describing a hip flexor. Although, my armchair sports therapist skills would suggest that you need to build strength in this area as a cure, rather than only stretch the flexor. You mentioned that the pain was most evident on the lifting phase of the rotation. This suggests that contraction is the problem.
A good excercise to build strength in the hip flexors is to use the low cable pull attached to your ankle and use a cycling motion or even a simple run motion raising and lowering your knee.
Here is an example: http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/CBSingleLegRaise.html
You will know instantly if this excercise is hitting the same muscle that you are concerned about.
hth
I appreciate your input. Here, however, is my concern regarding strengthening this hip flexor: When I perform a movement that causes pain (adducting my upper leg - a perfect example is getting in the car and lifting my left leg in causes the pain - it’s even worse if I hold my leg up, like pressing the top of my knee against the underside of the steering wheel) it doesn’t feel that it’s caused by weakness, rather by irritation (tendinitis or muscle spasm). My fear in working to strengthen the muscle is that I might make the condition worse. However, it’s also reasonable to consider the tendinites (or whatever) is a result of weakness.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll try it all and keep what works: )
jason