Left adductor/groin area strained when stretching Hip Flexors

[p6l-richard]

What I need help with

I don't know which areas to prioritize, although I have a feeling it should be Hip Flexors. 
However, I cannot stretch my HFs without straining my left adductors, so am unsure how to approach this.
Also, I would like some feedback on my proposal on programming for the next months (which I outline below)

Problem Description

I feel a strain in my left adductors/groin area when I bend my leg (e.g. squat position, lunge with bent leg forward). 
This strain restricts my movement when I straighten the leg behind me (I cannot even straighten it right away and have to wait that the area relaxes a bit).
Also, I feel how the strain reduces my performance in Basketball (I practice 6 times/week).

How to reproduce the restricting movement

I have found I can best reproduce the strain when I got into a lunge position when stretching the hip flexors.
Notice that it is my _left_ groin area that gets sore when I stretch my _right_ HFs.
If I stay for a couple of seconds in this lunge position with my left leg in front of me the pain slowly increases. 
If I tilt my upper body away from my knee, it gets worse.
If I then try to switch legs, the pain is sharp and my brain tries to protect the area by not letting my straighten out my leg behind me.

Context

- Glutes: My glutes are not very strong (e.g. I have issues performing frog bridges or the child pose glute exercises from Jen Crane)
- Hip Flexors: My Hip Flexors are almost certainly very short, which is also probably what has caused my glutes dormant.
	The issue with HFs is: I cannot stretch them without straining my left adductors/groin area
- Harmstrings: My harmstrings are probably too short on the left side. 
	Right side seems okay as I can reach farily low in a standing pike (hand completely on the floor). 
	On the left side though, I cannot get my lower back straight in the pike and there has formed some additional tissue that I feel strongly after practice. 
- Piriformis: Again, problems to straighten the back on the left side, cannot lower the chest to the ground.
- Hip: Horrible internal rotation, weak abduction, tight adductors.
- Lower back: Like I said I have this additional tissue (or whatever it is) on my left lower back since for ever so I'm assuming I'm compensating a lot through this area.

Programming (what I'm doing for ~2 months now)

Pre- Basketball practice (almost daily): 
- Smash the adductors to relax them and "turn them off"
- Limbering Hip Flexors (???) => I don't know how to limber the HFs without straining my addcutors
- Glute activation => Frog bridges, Kit's glute activation, bridges etc.
- Core activation => Hollow Body rocks, Tuck ups, etc.

Once or twice a week (post-practice):
- Fascial work: Smash the addcutors in different areas for ~10 min each side (does this help my ungluing the gracilis from the Semimembranosus?)
- Intense Harmstring stretch (~45 mins, mix of calf strengthening, dynamic active stretching)
- Intense Adductors stretch (~45 mins)
- I would like to do something for Hip Flexros and would like to buy one of Kit's courses for this, however I'm unsure what's best to do especially since I'm always straining my adductors when stretching HFs :/

Similar topics on this Forum
This topic was the closes one but it does not address my issue that I have a hard time stretching Hip Flexors without straining my adductors.

[Nathan]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums!

That's a lot of info! But you didn't mention much background, e.g. how long you've been having issues, what was happening when they started, etc. Just glancing over your post, what really pops out at me is this:

On 10/28/2020 at 7:28 AM, p6l-richard said:

- Intense Harmstring stretch (~45 mins, mix of calf strengthening, dynamic active stretching)
- Intense Adductors stretch (~45 mins)

So for around two months, you've been doing rather long sessions of "intense" hamstring and adductor stretching once or twice per week. You didn't say what those sessions consist of, and I don't know how you are defining "intense" here, but that sounds like a lot. I wonder if you haven't simply overstretched the area and continue to overwork it without letting it recover properly. Perhaps consider taking a week or two off from "intense" stretching, while continuing light stretching without venturing into any discomfort, and see what happens.

As for hip flexors, I'd recommend trying the couch stretch, or wall quad, which you can see Kit demonstrate in this video. However, instead of moving the front leg forward (away from the wall), spend a while closer to the wall, which should still work rectus femoris without putting much strain on the groin area. You will need to really emphasize the posterior pelvic tilt, but if you do this well, you will be able to get an incredible stretch with very little movement. You can try this as an option for hip flexors while you are letting your adductors get some rest for a couple weeks and then try opening up the angle a bit (by moving further away from the wall) to see how it feels later.

[p6l-richard]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read through my post and answer, Nathan. Really appreciate it as my adductors keep on nagging me and it's comforting to see somebody is trying to help.

 

10 hours ago, Nathan said:

That's a lot of info! But you didn't mention much background, e.g. how long you've been having issues, what was happening when they started, etc. 

I have these issue for roughly two months now. So they came up before I started the stretching sessions -- probably as a result of the basketabll practice intensity (6x p.week). When they started, I tried to warm up the area a bit more as I've found that I could handle my performance better when warm. However, this resulted in more pain immediately after practice and I kept having those issues the following days. It is better after an off day, but I have tried 3-4 days without practice and it's still easily reproducible by stretches or evening during low intensity (e.g. warm up).

 

Quote

I wonder if you haven't simply overstretched the area and continue to overwork it without letting it recover properly. Perhaps consider taking a week or two off from "intense" stretching, while continuing light stretching without venturing into any discomfort, and see what happens.

Alright, I will test this out for one or two weeks and report back.
 

Quote

As for hip flexors, I'd recommend trying the couch stretch, or wall quad, which you can see Kit demonstrate in this video. However, instead of moving the front leg forward (away from the wall), spend a while closer to the wall, which should still work rectus femoris without putting much strain on the groin area. You will need to really emphasize the posterior pelvic tilt, but if you do this well, you will be able to get an incredible stretch with very little movement. You can try this as an option for hip flexors while you are letting your adductors get some rest for a couple weeks and then try opening up the angle a bit (by moving further away from the wall) to see how it feels later.

Alright, then I will try to continue the HF stretches like you proposed. 
I'm thinking of also adding glutes activation to the session after the HF stretch to take advantage of the newly acquired range of motion to wake up my glutes a bit. Does this makes sense?

Best,
Richard
 

[Nathan]

13 hours ago, p6l-richard said:

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read through my post and answer, Nathan.

You're welcome!

13 hours ago, p6l-richard said:

I have these issue for roughly two months now. So they came up before I started the stretching sessions -- probably as a result of the basketabll practice intensity (6x p.week). When they started, I tried to warm up the area a bit more as I've found that I could handle my performance better when warm. However, this resulted in more pain immediately after practice and I kept having those issues the following days. It is better after an off day, but I have tried 3-4 days without practice and it's still easily reproducible by stretches or evening during low intensity (e.g. warm up).

So it sounds like you strained the adductors by pushing yourself beyond your current limits with basketball practice. I can understand why you responded with the intense stretching regimen, but you've added more stimulus on top of an already stressful (to the adductors) practice. Three to four days off is good, but it's almost surely not enough to completely heal. At this point, it is simply a question of priorities. You can't have (near) daily basketball practice and a quick recovery. If continuing with your current schedule of basketball practice is important to you, then you can do that, but you have to accept that recovery will take much longer and you will need to be much more careful. I would recommend focusing on recovery strategies, e.g. lots of quality sleep, good nutrition, only light stretching, relaxation practices, etc.

13 hours ago, p6l-richard said:

I'm thinking of also adding glutes activation to the session after the HF stretch to take advantage of the newly acquired range of motion to wake up my glutes a bit. Does this makes sense?

Sure, that sounds fine. I would just add that your glutes are not asleep. If they were, you wouldn't be able to do much. Your glutes are weak. That is all. Glute "activation" exercises will help strengthen and increase your awareness of them, and are a good start, but don't be afraid of throwing some real weight on the bar and making them work.

Wishing you all the best. Keep us updated!