Hip Flexor Strain - Cannot Squat and Deadlift for time being - Possible alternatives

[TheRighteous]

So basically I have a hip flexor strain on my left side and squatting and deadlifting causes me pain and further exacerbates the problem. So I have been left with no choice but to suspend performing those exercises, especially disconcerting is that it happened when I finally broke through my plateau on both of those lifts. For the time being I'd like to minimize strength losses that will occur and so I would like to know possible alternatives to work the quads, hamstrings, and lower back that will not activate the hip flexors. Thanks for the help.

[SumPersonGuy]

GHRs, Goodmornings (possibly). I'm sure there are others, but those are the two big ones I can think of.

[gahptramsenoru]

just ghr's mostly, definitely not good mornings ^. obviously leg extentions and leg curls and all that stupid s*** is the only other ones i can think of, maybe try the all the squat type machines in your gym and find out if they aggravate the area or not. other than that try and get some grip work in and you shouldnt be losing to much strength

[BombDonald]

Work on fixing the problem, not necessarily avoiding squats and deadlifts. Get a foam roller or PVC pipe and work on your upper legs from all angles. On top of that, do lots of static stretching for the hip flexors.

[CROMAGS1985]

I would drag a light sled forward or backward and gauge the pain/discomfort based on that and then proceed once the area is full of blood with dynamic/static stretches and then maybe maybe some light whatever. If it's too painful to do even that, I'd go see a professional. GL...

[TheRighteous]

just ghr's mostly, definitely not good mornings ^. obviously leg extentions and leg curls and all that stupid s*** is the only other ones i can think of, maybe try the all the squat type machines in your gym and find out if they aggravate the area or not. other than that try and get some grip work in and you shouldnt be losing to much strength

Well I've been making a point of doing heavy barbell shrugs, so my gripping should be alright. And to other poster, I tried good mornings with just the bar yesterday and it immediately aggravated the area. My mom's a doctor and she told me to avoid all movements involving the hip flexor and that the problem will fix itself. But yeah, I guess I'll do leg extensions and leg curls. But is there anything else? I wanna do compounds. I'm pretty sure that the cause of the problem was as follows. Pretty much I was concurrently running Coan/Phillipi for deadlift and a variation that I made up using the same percentages for squats. So instead of the assistance exercises mentioned for the deadlift program I was doing, front squats, lunges, overhead squats, and leg extensions. Progressively after a number of weeks of running both programs I think is when the strain set in. Before I got to week 9 on deadlifts and week 7 on squats I realized that I couldn't continue either program without extreme pain and a likely exacerbation of the problem.

[gahptramsenoru]

Well I've been making a point of doing heavy barbell shrugs, so my gripping should be alright. And to other poster, I tried good mornings with just the bar yesterday and it immediately aggravated the area. My mom's a doctor and she told me to avoid all movements involving the hip flexor and that the problem will fix itself. But yeah, I guess I'll do leg extensions and leg curls. But is there anything else? I wanna do compounds. I'm pretty sure that the cause of the problem was as follows. Pretty much I was concurrently running Coan/Phillipi for deadlift and a variation that I made up using the same percentages for squats. So instead of the assistance exercises mentioned for the deadlift program I was doing, front squats, lunges, overhead squats, and leg extensions. Progressively after a number of weeks of running both programs I think is when the strain set in. Before I got to week 9 on deadlifts and week 7 on squats I realized that I couldn't continue either program without extreme pain and a likely exacerbation of the problem.

running squat and deadlift with coan/phillipi was not a good idea, + that much assistance. so its just a strain ? if so it wont last for long with proper rolling and lots of stretching the hip flexors, shouldnt take long to recover from, i had a lower back strain a couple of months ago and with foam rolling and stretches, it was completely gone in one week, try to get some light squats before stretching if you can

[muscle_g]

Can you do leg presses? If so do those to keep the quad muscles built up until you are able to squat again.

[TheRighteous]

running squat and deadlift with coan/phillipi was not a good idea, + that much assistance. so its just a strain ? if so it wont last for long with proper rolling and lots of stretching the hip flexors, shouldnt take long to recover from, i had a lower back strain a couple of months ago and with foam rolling and stretches, it was completely gone in one week, try to get some light squats before stretching if you can

I'm not familiar with foam rolling and don't very much at all about hip flexor stretches, so I'll need some more info into both of these things.

[yamahaguitarguy]

Same thing happened to me before so i just did box squats instead of squats

[wakechica]

So basically I have a hip flexor strain on my left side and squatting and deadlifting causes me pain and further exacerbates the problem. So I have been left with no choice but to suspend performing those exercises, especially disconcerting is that it happened when I finally broke through my plateau on both of those lifts. For the time being I'd like to minimize strength losses that will occur and so I would like to know possible alternatives to work the quads, hamstrings, and lower back that will not activate the hip flexors. Thanks for the help.

You should only be out for 6 weeks. Keep it mobile and flexible through gentle stretches. Then come back slowly. I had a serious deep hip flexor strain and it still niggle every now and again. Lots of stretching helps. I would personally not do anything lower body for 4 weeks and reasses then.