Groin Pain when Walking (Sartorius/Hip Flexor Strain)

I plan on going back to the Doctor this week, and requesting an MRI, but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this.

I am an early 30s male, in good shape (6ft, 170lbs). I walk and carry my bag when playing, and workout everyday. Over the summer, I ran or biked quite a bit (3-4 miles running or 10 miles biking). I started to get random pain in my groin when walking the golf course. At first, I would randomly begin limping around and I thought it was just a cramp, as after I did some light stretching or simply got in a cart for a hole or two it would go away.

But around early September, it started getting worse to where I would start limping around after I walked anymore than a few holes. This even happened when I wasn't carrying my bag (I had a friend caddy for me in a USGA Four Ball Qualifier in late September). It doesn't hurt to swing the club unless the muscle is aggravated from walking. When it is it aggravated, it hurts while swinging on the inside of the left leg (groin area), during impact and slightly after (not severe, more of a pulling or stretching). I saw a doctor and started PT a few weeks ago, and was diagnosed with "hip flexor tendonitis" and/or a sartorius muscle strain. After doing PT, while the surrounding muscles seem to be slightly stronger (the glutes and quads mainly), the initial area of pain in the groin is still there and still flares up even when walking short distances, such as around the office at work. Short of being on crutches, I am not sure how to limit my walking anymore than I have.

I took a couple weeks off golf, and when I returned I took a cart, but inevitably there is still walking involved even when taking a cart. The groin would randomly flare up and sometimes would begin limping around, even after walking the short distance from the cart path to the green (this would not happen on every hole, just a couple times a round). Then, after stretching out on the next tee, the pain would go away, and I would be fine. I plan to take the next month or two off golf (off-season anyways), but does this sound like anything more serious than a simple muscle or hip flexor strain to anyone? It also hurts in the groin (sharper pain) when putting my left foot on top of my right knee and pushing down on the left knee (figure 4 stretch). The butterfly stretch, on the other hand, is not painful at all and often helps loosen up the muscle.

I just find this whole thing strange, as if it was a muscle pull or strain, you would think it would hurt all the time, not just at random intervals. Has anyone ever dealt with this sort of thing before or have any solutions?

> @GRgolf04 said:

> I plan on going back to the Doctor this week, and requesting an MRI, but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this.

>

> I am an early 30s male, in good shape (6ft, 170lbs). I walk and carry my bag when playing, and workout everyday. Over the summer, I ran or biked quite a bit (3-4 miles running or 10 miles biking). I started to get random pain in my groin when walking the golf course. At first, I would randomly begin limping around and I thought it was just a cramp, as after I did some light stretching or simply got in a cart for a hole or two it would go away.

>

> But around early September, it started getting worse to where I would start limping around after I walked anymore than a few holes. This even happened when I wasn't carrying my bag (I had a friend caddy for me in a USGA Four Ball Qualifier in late September). It doesn't hurt to swing the club unless the muscle is aggravated from walking. When it is it aggravated, it hurts while swinging on the inside of the left leg (groin area), during impact and slightly after (not severe, more of a pulling or stretching). I saw a doctor and started PT a few weeks ago, and was diagnosed with "hip flexor tendonitis" and/or a sartorius muscle strain. After doing PT, while the surrounding muscles seem to be slightly stronger (the glutes and quads mainly), the initial area of pain in the groin is still there and still flares up even when walking short distances, such as around the office at work. Short of being on crutches, I am not sure how to limit my walking anymore than I have.

>

> I took a couple weeks off golf, and when I returned I took a cart, but inevitably there is still walking involved even when taking a cart. The groin would randomly flare up and sometimes would begin limping around, even after walking the short distance from the cart path to the green (this would not happen on every hole, just a couple times a round). Then, after stretching out on the next tee, the pain would go away, and I would be fine. I plan to take the next month or two off golf (off-season anyways), but does this sound like anything more serious than a simple muscle or hip flexor strain to anyone? It also hurts in the groin (sharper pain) when putting my left foot on top of my right knee and pushing down on the left knee (figure 4 stretch). The butterfly stretch, on the other hand, is not painful at all and often helps loosen up the muscle.

>

> I just find this whole thing strange, as if it was a muscle pull or strain, you would think it would hurt all the time, not just at random intervals. Has anyone ever dealt with this sort of thing before or have any solutions?

At your age - hip pain sometimes starts at the feet.

May sound weird but change your shoes and give it another week.

Good luck.

That's an interesting take, and I have actually thought about going to spikeless shoes to reduce the torque/twisting into the ground throughout the swing, in addition to providing better support and comfort during the round.

I am no physio or doctor but it could be attributed to:

1) Your hips might be tilted causing you to over compensate with muscles (fixable at home)

2) Small groin hernia

3) Epididymitis

4) Small groin tear that won't heal

5) Similar to Epididymitis, if you lift heavy (i have had this) you can inflame the testicles by straining them. I was on pain killers and anti-inflams with ice for a week. Had to stop doing dead lifts for a few months.

Hopefully it's not #3 or #5! I don't really have pain there, more on the inside of the leg. So I got that going for me, haha.

Sounds like you are doing too much. Slow down. See if that helps. I am with Ferguson on the feet. Make sure you don't have any ingrown nails, cracked skin or anything like an achilles issue..

Is the pain always after a few holes walking? Does it come and go during other activities like your running and weightlifting? If I read the OP correct it seems so.

If it comes and goes like that I lean towards a hernia as they can move in and out of the 'hole' created causing pain at random times.

The pain tends to happen during any length of walking, running, biking, etc. it seems as though one minute I’m walking fine, then, all of a sudden I’ll be limping around. It’s almost as if I take a funny step or something to set it off, but I can’t figure out what that is. I literally can’t walk more than two or three holes before the limping begins.

It may be iliopsoas bursitis. I suffer with it and causes groin pain with a lot of activities including walking. Initially, it was diagnosed as a sports hernia, but, tests for that proved negative. A good ortho doc can confirm or rule it out fairly quickly.

> @sunbeltgolfer said:

> It may be iliopsoas bursitis. I suffer with it and causes groin pain with a lot of activities including walking. Initially, it was diagnosed as a sports hernia, but, tests for that proved negative. A good ortho doc can confirm or rule it out fairly quickly.

Sunbelt, how did you go about resolving it and how long did it take to resolve and get back to golfing (walking the course)?

Your only choice is to stay away from activities that re-injure it. For as long as it takes. It might be weeks or months. And then go at it slowly. This is why groin injuries are so problematic in sports. Athletes miss huge amounts of time, come back too early and miss even more time. Take the time now to rest and do the physio.

I had one many years ago playing hockey. Caught an edge in a rut in the pre-game skate and though nothing of it. After about 5 games of trying to play through it, I was done for the season. It was months before I could skate again and fortunately summer came before I could get back on the ice. It was nicely healed before hockey started up again.

Luckily, this happened now and not in the spring, so I will be able to rest it through March if necessary. It doesn't hurt to just swing a club, but it may be slowing the healing process indirectly. At this point, I am just hoping to figure out what is causing the pain, and come up with a plan to recovery, however long that is. I can accept resting it, but the uncertainty is killing me right now, as the injury is not debilitating enough to keep me from daily activities such as walking, upper body weight lifting, etc.

Groins and lower back pain. Even the dumbest, least related movement can somehow set you back in healing. When I had my sciatica, I thought I was healed and one day ran about 50 yards across a parking lot and was there it was, back in pain (pun intended). At least you are young and the body heals faster at 30ish vs 50+ so you've got that working for you. Maybe Tiger can spring for some blood platelet therapy?

so where in the groin? is the pain in the front of the hip? the 4 figure stretch you are talking about is somewhat problematic as the way the femorol head rotates in the socket - when you do that stretch as you describe it which hip is the pain in and where?

> @Ferguson said:

> > @GRgolf04 said:

> > I plan on going back to the Doctor this week, and requesting an MRI, but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this.

> >

> > I am an early 30s male, in good shape (6ft, 170lbs). I walk and carry my bag when playing, and workout everyday. Over the summer, I ran or biked quite a bit (3-4 miles running or 10 miles biking). I started to get random pain in my groin when walking the golf course. At first, I would randomly begin limping around and I thought it was just a cramp, as after I did some light stretching or simply got in a cart for a hole or two it would go away.

> >

> > But around early September, it started getting worse to where I would start limping around after I walked anymore than a few holes. This even happened when I wasn't carrying my bag (I had a friend caddy for me in a USGA Four Ball Qualifier in late September). It doesn't hurt to swing the club unless the muscle is aggravated from walking. When it is it aggravated, it hurts while swinging on the inside of the left leg (groin area), during impact and slightly after (not severe, more of a pulling or stretching). I saw a doctor and started PT a few weeks ago, and was diagnosed with "hip flexor tendonitis" and/or a sartorius muscle strain. After doing PT, while the surrounding muscles seem to be slightly stronger (the glutes and quads mainly), the initial area of pain in the groin is still there and still flares up even when walking short distances, such as around the office at work. Short of being on crutches, I am not sure how to limit my walking anymore than I have.

> >

> > I took a couple weeks off golf, and when I returned I took a cart, but inevitably there is still walking involved even when taking a cart. The groin would randomly flare up and sometimes would begin limping around, even after walking the short distance from the cart path to the green (this would not happen on every hole, just a couple times a round). Then, after stretching out on the next tee, the pain would go away, and I would be fine. I plan to take the next month or two off golf (off-season anyways), but does this sound like anything more serious than a simple muscle or hip flexor strain to anyone? It also hurts in the groin (sharper pain) when putting my left foot on top of my right knee and pushing down on the left knee (figure 4 stretch). The butterfly stretch, on the other hand, is not painful at all and often helps loosen up the muscle.

> >

> > I just find this whole thing strange, as if it was a muscle pull or strain, you would think it would hurt all the time, not just at random intervals. Has anyone ever dealt with this sort of thing before or have any solutions?

>

>

>

> At your age - hip pain sometimes starts at the feet.

> May sound weird but change your shoes and give it another week.

>

>

> Good luck.

>

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>

>

>

>

>

this piece of advise really helped me. I started a feeling pain above the right buttocks under the belt line. I was wearing wore down sneakers and switched to a newer pair and the pain is slowly leaving..

thank you sir! how did you know this?

> @TIM929 said:

> > @Ferguson said:

> > > @GRgolf04 said:

> > > I plan on going back to the Doctor this week, and requesting an MRI, but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this.

> > >

> > > I am an early 30s male, in good shape (6ft, 170lbs). I walk and carry my bag when playing, and workout everyday. Over the summer, I ran or biked quite a bit (3-4 miles running or 10 miles biking). I started to get random pain in my groin when walking the golf course. At first, I would randomly begin limping around and I thought it was just a cramp, as after I did some light stretching or simply got in a cart for a hole or two it would go away.

> > >

> > > But around early September, it started getting worse to where I would start limping around after I walked anymore than a few holes. This even happened when I wasn't carrying my bag (I had a friend caddy for me in a USGA Four Ball Qualifier in late September). It doesn't hurt to swing the club unless the muscle is aggravated from walking. When it is it aggravated, it hurts while swinging on the inside of the left leg (groin area), during impact and slightly after (not severe, more of a pulling or stretching). I saw a doctor and started PT a few weeks ago, and was diagnosed with "hip flexor tendonitis" and/or a sartorius muscle strain. After doing PT, while the surrounding muscles seem to be slightly stronger (the glutes and quads mainly), the initial area of pain in the groin is still there and still flares up even when walking short distances, such as around the office at work. Short of being on crutches, I am not sure how to limit my walking anymore than I have.

> > >

> > > I took a couple weeks off golf, and when I returned I took a cart, but inevitably there is still walking involved even when taking a cart. The groin would randomly flare up and sometimes would begin limping around, even after walking the short distance from the cart path to the green (this would not happen on every hole, just a couple times a round). Then, after stretching out on the next tee, the pain would go away, and I would be fine. I plan to take the next month or two off golf (off-season anyways), but does this sound like anything more serious than a simple muscle or hip flexor strain to anyone? It also hurts in the groin (sharper pain) when putting my left foot on top of my right knee and pushing down on the left knee (figure 4 stretch). The butterfly stretch, on the other hand, is not painful at all and often helps loosen up the muscle.

> > >

> > > I just find this whole thing strange, as if it was a muscle pull or strain, you would think it would hurt all the time, not just at random intervals. Has anyone ever dealt with this sort of thing before or have any solutions?

> >

> >

> >

> > At your age - hip pain sometimes starts at the feet.

> > May sound weird but change your shoes and give it another week.

> >

> >

> > Good luck.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

> this piece of advise really helped me. I started a feeling pain above the right buttocks under the belt line. I was wearing wore down sneakers and switched to a newer pair and the pain is slowly leaving..

>

> thank you sir! how did you know this?

I am glad you found relief.

Feel for you amigo I got same issue.... I cant do the row machine at the gym but luckily golf aint bad.

Nothing Dr could do besides doing that new groin replacement therapy and only models in stock were the Caitlyn Jenner models I said fine as long I could run like her in the 70s

I would say the most important thing to do first is to have it properly diagnosed. There could be other issues that result in similar symptoms and pain. I also have bursitis in the greater trochanter region of both hips, and my shoulders. Rest from activities that aggravate it helps a little and I have had to take cortisone injections and anti inflammatory medications for a long time to try and have a semi normal life. Nothing has stopped mine completely. Everyone responds differently to medication and therapy, so there may well be a happy ending for you as long as it doesn't go untreated.

Internet always makes it seem easy to heal, ie. couple months or less for muscle strain. Usually is a bit more complicated than that and can take awhile. Give it a rest and do stretches

> @Mono said:

> so where in the groin? is the pain in the front of the hip? the 4 figure stretch you are talking about is somewhat problematic as the way the femorol head rotates in the socket - when you do that stretch as you describe it which hip is the pain in and where?

The pain is on the inside of the left leg, near where the top of the leg meets the rest of the body.

Thanks for the help everyone. MRI next Monday, so hopefully I will get some answers soon!

Good luck, I hope you have a positive diagnosis and quick recovery.

> @GRgolf04 said:

> > @Mono said:

> > so where in the groin? is the pain in the front of the hip? the 4 figure stretch you are talking about is somewhat problematic as the way the femorol head rotates in the socket - when you do that stretch as you describe it which hip is the pain in and where?

>

> The pain is on the inside of the left leg, near where the top of the leg meets the rest of the body.

>

> Thanks for the help everyone. MRI next Monday, so hopefully I will get some answers soon!

>

>

Prob some tendon or ligament tear.

gotcha - i have had pain in the front of the hip - and the diagnosis and treatment hasn't been fun - can related to constantly stretching the psoas

good luck with the dr and mri today

I've had similar issues, the culprit seems to usually be a weak antagonist muscle and not the one that's injured. When it hurts, is it tight/in spasm? If so, try activating the antagonist muscle to see if it inhibits the overactive/spasming muscle

Skimmed the thread but did you get x-rays? Would be easy to rule out impingement whether CAM or pincer.

Lay on your side with the left knee bent and open your legs like a clam shell. If no pain do it with resistance by pulling with your arm or having someone help you with holding the knee down.

You'd be surprised how many people have glute weakness that presents like this because of the mechanics behind the hip. Can mimic labral or arthritis. Can also be caused by labral or arthritis.

> @lanks said:

> I've had similar issues, the culprit seems to usually be a weak antagonist muscle and not the one that's injured. When it hurts, is it tight/in spasm? If so, try activating the antagonist muscle to see if it inhibits the overactive/spasming muscle

Yes, it's like I am walking along and all of a sudden the muscle on the inside of the groin spasms and gets really tight (to where I am limping around). This usually happens when walking briskly (really pushing off the left foot) or on hilly terrain. Sometimes, I can immediately stretch it out and it loosens up to where it doesn't bother me the remainder of the round. Other times, it won't loosen up for whatever reason and I am stuck limping the remainder of the round and or I decide to stop playing. Usually, in the latter case I am limping around for a day or two afterwards due to lingering pain/soreness in that area. > @BirdieDoc said:

> Skimmed the thread but did you get x-rays? Would be easy to rule out impingement whether CAM or pincer.

>

> Lay on your side with the left knee bent and open your legs like a clam shell. If no pain do it with resistance by pulling with your arm or having someone help you with holding the knee down.

>

> You'd be surprised how many people have glute weakness that presents like this because of the mechanics behind the hip. Can mimic labral or arthritis. Can also be caused by labral or arthritis.

I got xrays and they were negative. I can do clams pretty easily with and without resistance (I use a resistance band and put it around my knees and do clams as part of my current PT regimen). It really gets at my glutes. I doubt this is the problem as I can do 30 on each side with the resistance band and no issues (other than possible soreness the next day, but no pain).

Inversion table. This helped me tremendously

I have a labral tear in my right hip joint and went through a few PTs and quite a bit of rehab before it felt any better. After PT I still had some groin pain and could feel a pinch in the front of my hip if i bent over to bend down. I found this video

my questions were around hip impingment and labral tears - they are are no fun, but those present in the front of the hip no? not down in the groin where PM is saying he has pain?

Like I said, I have a labral tear and at one point my groin, front of hip, glutes and even at times back hurt. Also I would have pain in the front of the hip when stretching the psoas of opposite hip. Once I started to strengthen not only the glutes but the hip flexors I had major pain relief.