Stretching Injury

**Mister** · Posted On: 8/16/2011 10:36pm

Hello,

I was rigorously stretching my pelvic muscles one day (sitting on the floor, legs open and driving my body to the floor) before training (I warmed up beforehand by running around the hall) I was just about to touch the floor with my chest when my martial arts junior instructor got on my back suddenly forcing me to the ground, I felt a pop in the right side off my buttocks (for the lack of a more descriptive term, I'm not sure what muscle it was) and I couldn't walk right for a few days.

I've recovered since then but I noticed that my left side is much more flexible than my right, I can do the front splits on the left side no problem but my right side isn't that flexible and when I try to stretch it I feel a slight pain in the area of injury, it's bearable but not like the regular pain I feel when I stretch, even with the pain I can keep stretching it's no big deal.

Any ideas as to what happened? If I should keep stretching? And if there's a way to get my right leg back to normal again?

Thanks in advance.

P.S: I know my instructor is an idiot.

**ChenPengFi** · Posted On: 8/17/2011 3:07am

Find a new school.

**Sorekara** · Posted On: 8/21/2011 9:27pm

Quit stretching that part of your body!

You need to heal COMPLETELY before you attempt to stretch. After a healing time you need to work into some light stretching. Over time you'll get most if not all of your regular mobility.

What has happened is obv a strain or a tear in one (or more) of your muscles. There's different types of strains type 1 (mild) type 2 (moderate) type 3 (serious involving complete tear).

If you have a strained muscle the worse thing you can do is stretch it.

**Mister** · Posted On: 8/21/2011 11:05pm

Thanks for the reply Sorekara.

The injury happened some months ago, now I can walk, and run and jump and pretty much do anything without discomfort, I just get a mild pain when stretching that particular muscle by bending over or kicking my leg up to its maximum range, is this not enough time to be completely recovered? Is the mild pain a sign against complete recovery? And if so how long should I wait?

Thank you in advance.

**jspeedy** · Posted On: 8/22/2011 12:16am

I'm no expert but i've had minor injuries in the past that I wasn't able to get medical attention to asses. In my personal experience if I completely remove any movement that seems to irritate an injury from my workout routine i've been able to heal without medical intervention.

Example, I suffered from elbow pain for several months, at times I experienced a dull pain throughout the day or no pain at all. I realized pull ups or any motion similiar to pullups left me in more pain than usual the next day. The same with overhead press movements this realization took me months to figure out. Ultimately, I switched to dips as I recovered, after about six months I very slowly worked back into pullups and overhead press, now I am completely recovered as far as I can tell.

Medical advice from a doctor would be best for the OP's situation. I personally didn't have access to a doctor at the time of my injury. Most likely I lucked out and suffered longer than I needed to in my situation. But, all other qualified advice aside i'd offer the obvious advise that the OP eliminate any motion that causes any pain or discomfort; immediately or the next day, and allow more than enough time to heal and except the fact that without medical attention that it may take six months to a year to completely heal.

**Res Judicata** · Posted On: 8/22/2011 1:19pm

Running only as a warmup is mildly stupid. Running followed by hardcore static stretching is moderately stupid (yes, your old gym teacher didn't know what he was doing).

Look into dynamic range of motion warmups. Stuff like this (once you heal up, of course):

**ChenPengFi** · Posted On: 8/22/2011 1:35pm

Originally Posted by Mister

Is the mild pain a sign against complete recovery? And if so how long should I wait?

Yes, until the pain is completely resolved you risk turning the injury chronic.
That pain can also cause you to compensate and injure something else.

**Mister** · Posted On: 8/22/2011 4:22pm

Thank you for all your help you have all been very helpful. I guess I have to stay off that leg then...

Too bad I really wanted to do the splits, it's kind of a goal of mine, for no particular reason.

**BearHammer** · Posted On: 8/23/2011 11:41am

I feel your pain Mister. I finally addressed a wrist injury I sustained last year in Krav as well as a recent shoulder injury from Judo. xrays are fine. I just got my mri done on my wrist and still need to see my doc to see if I tore something. Then he will prob set up an mri for my shoulder. No punches w my left and no grappling right now either. I'm bummed.

Sad thing is I just found a good Judo school and am really hungry to get in there full time. I feel like I could train through it as I am mostly used to the wrist pain if wrapped enough, but that's where I made my mistake last time in not healing up first.

Good luck w the healz dude.