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I haven't been vaulting much lately, but when I do, I come home and I have severe pain in my hips. Not hip flexors, but outside. It lasts for several days afterward. When I go out for a light jog, they ache after that too, but not nearly as much, and only for 8-12 hours or so. What could this be from, and what can I do about it? I have an extremely high tolerance for pain, but the aches from after vaulting are so bad that they interfere with everything...lifting at school, gymnastics practice (when I still did it), even sitting in bleachers for X amount of time.

Well, I would take some time off to dedicate to icing and stretching, then another few days to getting the muscles stronger... Mobilize both your abductors and adductors with really light lifts (at first) on the specific machines. It might be a muscular imbalance, so if your adductors are a lot weaker than your abductors (for whatever reason), you should be able to spot that easily.

Did you talk to your school trainer/sports doctor?

They probably hurt because you beat the crap out of your body doing gymnastics your whole life, and now it is protesting.

You could start with a trainer or physical therapist, they could point you in the right direction. Chiropractic might help too.

Hip pain is relatively rare in the scheme of injuries that vaulters get, but like PP said, you might have some kind of muscle imbalance from gymnastics.

Hope it feels better soon!

Ok. Thank you both very much.

If you already see a chiropractor, I would see him/her first. A torqued pelvis is very common in vaulters and causes a large number of hip/leg problems.

I had the same problem last summer. After switching coaches, I was told that my hip pain was coming from a severely "under" step when I vaulted. It apparently puts a ton of pressure on your hips. If you know it's not your step that's the problem, I hope that icing and rest will help. Feel better!

rainbowgirl28 wrote:They probably hurt because you beat the crap out of your body doing gymnastics your whole life, and now it is protesting.

You could start with a trainer or physical therapist, they could point you in the right direction. Chiropractic might help too.

Hip pain is relatively rare in the scheme of injuries that vaulters get, but like PP said, you might have some kind of muscle imbalance from gymnastics.

Hope it feels better soon!

Go to a Physical Therapist before a chiro....i am biased because I get my Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in 4 months, but unless it is actually the spine that is in pain, I would not see a Chiropractor

gymnastsrock,

When you said you had a pain on the outside, where exactly do you have it. Is it on the side of your leg, upper leg, hip......

In general when people say their hips, they are talking about where the hip and femur articulate. If it hurts on the outside at this place it is most likely trocanteric bursitis.

Where exactly do you feel the pain and is it shooting, aching, deep?????