This document discusses different types of hip flexor pain and how to identify a pulled hip flexor strain. It describes that a pulled hip flexor causes pain when lifting the leg and can be tested by lifting one leg to the chest. A pulled flexor is classified as first, second, or third degree based on the amount of pain felt during this movement, with third degree indicating a full tear requiring immediate medical attention. The document provides information to help identify hip flexor injuries and when to seek further medical assessment.

1. Hip Flexor Pain

2. • If you are experiencing hip flexor pain, but you’re not sure
what type of injury you have suffered, or how bad it is, this
article should answer those questions for you. If you have
any unanswered questions, visit http://hipflexor.org/
• As discussed before, in the previous article, if you have a
hip flexor injury, there are three main types of hip flexor
pain.
• Hip Flexor Pain When Lifting Leg
• Hip flexor pain is often associated with pain while lifting the
leg, but more specifically, Hip Flexor pain only during this
movement is usually a pulled (or strained) hip flexor.

3. • Pulled Hip Flexor
• If you have a pulled hip flexor you may know it already
based on the Hip Flexor pain you remember feeling when it
first started hurting; if it was during some sort of explosive
movement, you probably have a hip flexor strain. In order
to test if you have pulled your hip flexor, try standing on the
opposite foot, then lifting your leg as high as possible(knee
to chest), if you feel any hip flexor pain at any stage stop
immediately.
• Once you have established that there is Hip Flexor pain
while performing the knee to chest movement, it is almost
certain that you have a pulled hip flexor. Please scroll down
to the severity section to learn what this means.

4. • Hip Flexor Pain Severity and Classification
• If you’ve identified that you have a pulled hip flexor, now
we need to classify it into one of three types of pulls, after
you have determined what class of pull you have, please
visit the first part of our hip flexor injury treatment series.
• First Degree Hip Flexor Strain
• If you can move your leg to your chest without much
discomfort, you most likely have a first degree strain; this is
the best kind you could have. A first degree strain means
you have a minor or partial tear to one or more of the
muscles in the area and probably don’t have a lot of Hip
Flexor pain.

5. • Second Degree Hip Flexor Strain
• If you had a lot of trouble moving your leg to your chest and had to
stop part way through, you probably have a second degree pull. A
second degree pull is a much more severe partial tear to one of the
muscles, it can cause significant hip flexor pain and needs to be
taken care of extremely cautiously in order not to fully tear the
injured area.
• Third Degree Hip Flexor Strain
• If you can barely move your leg at all why are you reading this
article!!! Go see your doctor right away and try not to move your
leg if you can avoid it. A Third degree strain is a full tear of your
muscle causing severe Hip Flexor pain and requires a much longer
time to heal, please get your doctors opinion on this before you do
anything else.

6. Hip Flexor Pain Summary
• Hopefully you have identified your injury
based on the type of hip flexor pain you are
having, if you are not confident in your ability
to assess the degree of injury following the
above instruction, please see a qualified
doctor who can give you a second opinion, it
can never hurt, but may help a lot. There are
also alternative resources about hip and hip
flexor pain if you need more information.