Hello friends,
I've been facing a recurring issue as of the last 1-2 years following a 1-year hiatus from consistent exercise/movement and am looking for some insight.
I am a former handbalancer who had full splits in all directions under load, flat pancake, etc.
2 years ago I started getting back into handbalancing after a 1-2 year break; I should note that I lost at least 40% of my flexibility at this point. I decide to just have fun and go into a handstand but when I kicked up, I reflexively snapped into a straddle in the range I've grown to find comfortable in my life with little warmup and felt like I tore both my abductors. I began rehabbing my abductor but was being more active and kept finding myself accidentally moving my leg into a range I no longer owned and reinjuring my groin.
This has kept happening over the past 2 years as even coming down from the wall in a stomach-to-wall handstand, I keep straddling too wide on the way down and feel an intensely sharp and burning pull in my abductor. It feels like a nerve issue as it is an incredibly sharp and burning sensation and I feel little to no pain until my abductor gets very.. "taut". I have issues with cossacks... pancakes.. and I can't even comfortably do side leg swings without very closely monitoring my range as it's very easy to swing a bit too high into pain which feels like searing lava in my inner thigh.
Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated