Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Hip Flexor exercises

I am on a mission - to help all people avoid suffering through a hip flexor injury.

I went back to the training room yesterday (i have a standing date with them at 10am every morning) and saw the head trainer this time (a woman who has helped me since I was a freshman) and she gave me some more exercises to do.

First off, A MILLION THANKS TO MARLENE for the video she left in my comments!!

Check it out here

Basically the exercises in the video that we do in practice for warm ups are:
hurdle trail leg (forward and backward)
lateral leg swing
linear leg swing

For rehab I do very similar exercises:

I do the lateral leg swing on a machine at the gym so that I had resistance from the weights. I also do the linear leg swing with a bent knee on that machine. These both are great exercises to strengthen your hip flexor (do 3 sets of 10 reps).

I also do stretches on a balance ball. I stand with my right knee on the ball and gently roll my leg back. It is a light stretch since you technically are not supposed to stretch the hip flexor when you have an injury (do 20 reps).

Next I put a light ankle weight on and stand bracing myself with the wall and pick my right knee up. My right quad is parallel to the ground straight in front of me and I rotate at the hip to the right so that my leg is outward but still parallel. I then rotate back to the original position and bring my leg down to the ground (do 3 sets with 10 reps).

Finally I do lunges - today I did them with 5 pound weights in each hand but felt some pain so tomorrow I will do them without the weights (do 3 sets with 12 reps).

After just one week of sitting out I realize how important it is to do the little things when warming up. If any of these exercises don't make sense let me know and I will try to explain it better!

Yesterday I basically went pain free. On the downside the trainer said that I probably wont be able to run for 2 more weeks! 2 MORE WEEKS!!! I have cabin fever as it is and just want to run run run!!

On the upside, I am competing in Shot put this Saturday for the state meet. Its not a running event but at least it is something!

12 comments:

Julianne said...

Those are all really great stretches and tips!! I'm gonna use them, myself!! Good luck on the shot put event! Yep, it's not running but you can still experience the spirit of the competition!

No Longer Using said...

thanks so much for these!!!!!! the time you put in will definitely pay off-- i always need to remind myself of that re: stretching + strengthening,... "the little things" cuz they add up and even if i'm not injured NOW, i prolly WILL be if i don't follow through with these things. good luck with the shot, that's great you are doing that!

Marcy said...

Ooooo thank you chica!! I've gotta check out that vid :-)

N.D. said...

These look great - glad rehab is going well!

Marlene said...

Happy to help. :)

Good luck with your recovery!

tfh said...

Thanks for sharing these-- I am going to have to take care of some pre-hab here. And I'm glad you'll get to compete in shot put at least!

X-Country2 said...

All great stretching tips.

You'll be back running in no time. Good luck this weekend!

Amy said...

Good luck with the Shot Put event!!

Nicole said...

I'm glad your rehabing well :)

The Laminator said...

Good luck in the shot put. It's not running but at least you get to compete in something! I'm glad rehab is going well for you.

Nicole said...

Also GOOD LUCK this weekend!!! And i'll be thinking of you too :)

Brian said...

I hope the cabin fever doesnt set in too hard, although its a good sign that youre a runner! :)