Well today was game day and by the second half, after a number of sprints, my groin/adductors tightened up again. They felt tight, strained and maybe even a bit cramped.
Im not sure why this is happening. Maybe Im not running enough, or maybe its the extra unilateral work Im doing with the barbell lunges? Or maybe its cause Ive started using my road bike a couple of times a week just lately??
BBB help!!??
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The issue could be due to multiple reasons. The extra volume of training may be partially contributing with the extra road biking and unilateral work. Your adductors just may not be used to that volume/load/intensity of work and just may not have been recovered enough.
Some things I am thinking are the cause are probably a muscular activation and muscular imbalance uses. You may have inactive glutes, so the adductor magnus has to assist more than normal w/ the explosive hip extension and eccentric slowing of the forward stride. Also, if you have excessively tight IT band, it will inhibit the adductors some, so when they are trying to kick in to assist with the hip extension/eccentric stride leg, they aren’t at prime length or activation levels. This can all cause strain and a cramp-like feeling.
Without a visual/physical assessment, it is hard to say for certain what your specific issues are, but those are some things that are worth looking into.
Thanks LevelHeaded, your better than that BBB guy.
So I think you have hit the nail on the head with this one. I currently do glute activation drills on my leg day, but I will try and do some more on other days. Is there any running drill/exercise I can do to promote better glute activation while running/sprinting?
my hips are feeling really good. i stopped doing that stretch… found a vid where Defranco pinned his hip flexor with a theracane and gradually extended the leg. using the metal part of a dumbbell with the weights off. guess theracane is on the ‘next exercise toy’ list. seems to be working out for me. getting more focal with the ball in front. woke up… the tiny little stabilizers under the glute max. actually strained them a little doing high step ups
[quote]alexus wrote:
my hips are feeling really good. i stopped doing that stretch… found a vid where Defranco pinned his hip flexor with a theracane and gradually extended the leg. using the metal part of a dumbbell with the weights off. guess theracane is on the ‘next exercise toy’ list. seems to be working out for me. getting more focal with the ball in front. woke up… the tiny little stabilizers under the glute max. actually strained them a little doing high step ups :-)[/quote]
I will need a video of this. And no, Im not joking.
[quote]alexus wrote:
my hips are feeling really good. i stopped doing that stretch…[/quote]
Glad to hear. I tried to be as professional as possible but I had to get the message across re that particular stretch.
[quote]alexus wrote:
found a vid where Defranco pinned his hip flexor with a theracane and gradually extended the leg. using the metal part of a dumbbell with the weights off. guess theracane is on the ‘next exercise toy’ list. seems to be working out for me. getting more focal with the ball in front. woke up… the tiny little stabilizers under the glute max. actually strained them a little doing high step ups :-)[/quote]
I’ve owned a Theracane for about two years now. It’s a surprisingly versatile tool. There are some copy cats out there that may or may not have better features but the original is still effective.
[quote]alexus wrote:
the tiny little stabilizers under the glute max. actually strained them a little doing high step ups :-)[/quote]
Like any other movement, you need to apply common sense. In other words:
are you well recovered from the prior session (flush that squat-everyday-mindset down the toilet; even one of the most successful practitioners of the bulgarian system, Pat Mendez, got injured)
are you well warmed up
are you doing too much volume too quickly
are you adding sufficient variety to a given pattern (this is why I’m such a fan of the reverse band single leg box squats; the bands give just enough help in the hole)
nutrition/sleep in line
Boring rules yet fundamentally important. Piss on the fundamentals and the universe will take a piss on you.
i can’t quite pin it down properly without something i can hook - but do seem to get something out of ramming a piece of metal straight in.
theracanes are bloody expensive… i wonder if a plastic coathanger could do it…
when i discover something new that didn’t really work before i always wreck it a bit. it’s okay, the doms helps remind me to use it properly… certainly have backed off a bit now, though. too much volume too fast. that’s okay, i can deal. give it a few days then re-introduce the step-ups.
Thanks for that alexus. Looks tricky, but I will give it a go… as soon as I find something do use. How much are those theracanes and where do I get one? It might be expensive, but it might be worth the once off expense. Looks like you can use it for knots in your back and shoulder aswell?
So will you abandon that wall hip flexor stretch all together?
i don’t suppose it is all that expensive. i mean, i paid $50 for my EVA foam roller (feel better for 10 bucks, ha!) welcome to the southern hemisphere…
yeah, i think i’m done with that wall flexor stretch. or rip. it really felt like more of a rip than a stretch, i think.
the knots in my back / shoulder are progressing well with my plastic ball. it is basically an area i’d only given a cursory foam roll before (focused more on thoracic extension back over the roller). surprised how much focal stuff i’m finding now i’m getting more serious about hunting round my lats / shoulder blades / triceps with the ball.
Alexus- Ok, so Ill stop doing that stretch then aswell.
By reading your training logs, it looks like you do most of your mobility work before training right?
Have you considered giving mobility its own session, for example mobility in the morning and then work out in the evening?
Im considering trying some yoga in the offseason. Have you considered that?
Lately Ive been feeling a little sore, even after off days.
My initial plan was to do mobilityWOD daily starting from the first episode. But then I got to episode 2 and really had significant difficulty… Decided to press on and then hit the blasted flexor stretch for episode 3… I’m not sure about the usefulness of simply pressing on with the episodes rather than taking the time to sort out what is wrong / why I find them hard. But if they are simply sadistic moves rather than functional movement screens that kind of undermines my reason for doing them…
So I’m feeling ambivalent.
I have been thinking lately that it would be nice if I could do my soft tissue work in the morning and then train in the evening. Most of the time my mobility feels like shit and it is only after my soft tissue work that I actually feel comfortable in my own body. That would involve my getting up an hour earlier, though… I’m not sure I will do that…
I read this somewhere… ‘I don’t take off days because then I get injured’. Can’t remember who said it. Of course the dude has light days. But the dude found that taking a day off altogether (e.g., no soft tissue work, no mobility work) meant injury for him the next time he trained. That seems to be how things are for me, too. Also, if I take a day off rolling / mobilization then the next day I train I need about 2x my usual rolling / mobilization for about 1/2 the effects.
Olympic lifting… For me… Always has been about the ‘if I can do that with good form smoothly and comfortably then I really must have good flexibility / mobility / recruitment patterns / strength’. Just the bar… If you can lift the bar perfectly (which of course I can’t) then you can lift anything at all (aka: perfectly express your strength). The best rehab of all… Working mostly on lat activation to get the bar properly moving back from the floor during the first pull… And keeping the upper back tight to keep the bar tracking close during the second pull at the moment…
Sometimes I do a Bodybalance class (blend of yoga, tai chi, and pilates). The instructors who alternate teaching one of the classes are good so I try and make that class once a week. More for the mental deload aspect, though. There are lots of twists which I don’t think are a good thing. The instructors know enough to say ‘move from the hip’ but I’m sure the people who designed the routine didn’t envisage it like that… Lots of sit-ups and twisting sit-ups, too, which I’d really rather not put my body through. I think sometimes yoga mobilizes things that are supposed to be stable… Guess like pretty much everything it depends significantly on the expertise of the instructor.
It has been about 3 weeks and I am still having the same issues with my adductors and right hip flexor.
After some discussion with my pro soccer playing friends they have suggested I may have osteotis pubis!!!
Im very scared, as I have heard many terrible things about this condition.
Has anyone here ever experienced osteotis pubis? Please help!
Can you mark on a photo where specifically the pain is? If it is indeed osteotis pubis, it isn’t an “end to your career”. It will just take some time to rehab through. I believe Mike Boyle has written a lot about osteotis pubis if you care to research it at all.
Thanks LevelHeaded for your concern. I have done some more research and also wondering if it could be a “athletes hernia”. I cant mark on a diagram as I am away with the team at the moment and doing this via my phone.
The pain feels like it radiates in the belly of the adductor muscle, and it hurts every time I kick the ball or try and sprint. Normal walking around is painless. There is a very minimal irritation around my lower abdominals, more so on my right side, which I initially thought was a hip flxor strain. Although the irritation is only a 3/10.
I really hope I am over-reacting, and the pain is just a tear/strain. Are there any diagnostic tests I can do? Or do I just have ot het myself to the doc for some scans??
[quote]clean and squat wrote:
It could be your adductor magnus. Lie on your back and tighten your back as much as possible. Then hug your knee. Do you feel a pain?[/quote]
Yes, it hurts. I also feel pain when internally rotating my leg.
UPDATE!!
Hi friends,
I feel the injury is slowly improving, although I have not really tested it out much. Im trying to give the area as much rest as possible. Im thinking at this rate, if it is a strain I would expect it to be better within 2 weeks time.
I did visit my local physio yesterday, hoping for a more definite diagnosis, although she was no help. She gave my groin a bit of a half-ass rub and did 3 minutes of ultrasound on the area. Anyone aware of any studies on the efficiency of ultrasound to help with the recovery of muscle strain?
I have used ultrasound in the therapy I have given, but if all you got was a half assed rub and 3 minutes of ultrasound, then it isn’t being used properly. Generally, to have noticeable effects, generally you don’t want to go less than 6-7 minutes for ultrasound. It isn’t a cure all, but it can assist in recovery when used in combination with other therapeutic techniques and rehab exercises.
