painfull stradle L sit

[Mr Blint]

Hi there !

 

I don't know if i'm in the right place to ask that but assuming i've not found any better places, i'll post it there !

 

For... 2 months i guess i've got a problem with the internal/anterior part of my right hips. Each time i train a bit hard on things like L-sit, tuck jumps and even more with straddle L-sit, i feel quite a pain there. I wanted to know if anyone had got such pain and what he had done to get rid of it !

 

Thanks a lot for your answers !

 

 

PS: Of course i'll see a doctor in few time if i don't find a solution but since the pain disappear right after the end of the movement, i thought that it could wait ^^

[161803398874989]

If your quads are cramping up, this is to be expected and completely normal. Massage it out and continue onwards, it'll get better with time. If the pain is not coming from cramping (intense muscle contraction), see a doc.

[Mr Blint]

Thanks for answer

[Machete]

The psoas?

 

[Yuen]

All the exercises that are causing you pain require hip flexion. And the area that is hurting is the area where your hip flexors lie.

 

So your pain is coming from hip flexors that aren't (yet) up to the task you are asking of them.

 

The 3 most powerful and important hip flexor muscles have already been mentioned above:

 

Machete mentioned the iliopsoas - which comprises of 2 muscles the psoas major and the iliacus - which he has helpfully given you a diagram of. The psoas major is the one that is arising from your spine, and the iliacus is the one that is arising from your 'pelvis bone'. Both insert onto your femur bone and thus both cross the hip joint in front of its axis of rotation thus causing hip flexion. The iliopsoas is the most powerful hip flexor.

 

Phi (the numbers guy) mentioned one of the 4 parts of the quadriceps - the rectus femoris. The rectus femoris originates from a bony protuberance on your 'pelvis bone' and inserts like the rest of your quads through your patella into your tibia (shin bone). Thus the rectus femoris crosses both your hip and knee joints - thus the muscle causes both hip flexion as well as straightening your knee. Because it does these 2 actions, it is very likely this muscle that is hurting you during the L sits and straddle L sits - since flexing the hip and keeping the knee straight is exactly what an L sit requires.

 

The tuck jumps could be pain from either the iliopsoas or rectus femoris.

 

There are many other muscles which cross the hip joint and contribute to hip flexion. But to name them and/or focus on them would only serve to confuse. 

 

To help you:

To stretch your iliopsoas do this hip flexor stretch:

Note how the back hip is extended. There are subtle ways you can move your pelvis to improve the stretch - just experiment to find the best position.

 

To stretch your rectus femoris - you do a regular quads stretch like this:

Except, then you also extend your hips, while still keeping your knee flexed. So you end up like this:

Really though, you can do any position you want that extends your hips and flexes your knee. So you could also modify the original hip flexor i showed you like this:

 

To help strengthen the muscles, you can just do the exercises that you are currently doing and they will get stronger. I would probably start with less intensity or less reps or less seconds in your static L sit holds or something. Then progressively increase the intensity or reps or time or whatever at a slow but steady rate, so your body can grow, adapt, etc.