Crunchy Hip

[J540lover]

Ive been doing taekwondo for about a half a year, and Im building up flexibility quite well, but when ever i lift either leg for a kick that starts with the knee going up first, my hip stiffens up and sometimes makes a crunching noise, and its started being painful. Anyone know how to prevent this? It seems a bit similar to what Jujimufu described on his page about injuries. And looking at the forums, this thing seems quite common.
Axe kicks and crescants are fine, but pretty much anything else it seizes up.
Please help :dead:

[Papa Lazarou]

STOP KICKING!!!!

Not sure exactly what this is... I might look into it a bit. It might just be chronic fatigue or something causing problems. Not sure though.

My advice: REST THE CRAP OUT OF IT! This could become permanent if you don't!

Noises in joints are usually ok if they're painless. As soon as pain is involved you should immediately stop doing anything that causes it.

I recommend complete rest for a while. I'll have a think about what this might be.

Welcome to the forums by the way.

[J540lover]

Thanks dude. Im completely new to tricking, but this seems like a good place to start. I've always had stiff hips in any physical activity, but they've never really crunched, like when I put my leg down. I havent been doing over exercises, Ive done nearly no exercise for a while. But I've started stretching again yesterday (had an operation a few months back) so I'm pretty much starting all over again. Though, i didnt used to have crunchy hips, so yeah. Whats chronic fatigue btw?
And does no kicking also mean no stretching around the hips? Ive started trying to prep myself for splits and isometrics too.

Thanks for the advice.

[Papa Lazarou]

Chronic fatigue is when the muscle has been consistently overused for a long(ish) period of time. I used to have a popping sort of noise in the front of my hip whenever I brought the leg down after an axe or crescent kick. I found out that it was due to one of my hip flexor muscles being too short as a result of overuse (possible chronic fatigue) - I'd been doing lots of moves which shortened the hip flexors (kicking tricks, and the bkick setup). Since you haven't done much training in a while, this probably isn't your problem.

You should be fine to stretch your hip muscles - just avoid the crunching sound. Be careful with dynamic stretches particularly.

If it's something to do with a muscle, complete rest, and regular (daily) light stretching should help. Make sure it's light stretching though. It could be that you've come back to things too suddenly or something, so maybe take it a little easier for a bit before going full power in your kicks.

Finally, could you be a little more specific about when this noise occurs? Maybe give an example of a kick which causes it, exactly when in the movement the noise happens, and where in your hip the noise comes from? I'm a bit of a noob at this stuff but that'll help me work out what's causing it.

[maxx]

probably the hip flexors..i had that issue too...till i did alot of sidekicks....i made the hip flexors alot more flexible which made my kicks smoother in the joints and had no crunchy sound

stretch...stretch kicks..sidekicks..best option i got

[DarkXacreD]

I say rest, stretch and strengthen.

[J540lover]

Ok cool. I`m never going to a doctor again, now that I`ve got TT.com. lol.
Specifically the crunching is in the front most of my hip, Whenever I do axes or crescents, but more so crescents. Do side kicks help flexibility btw?
Or could this be a result of stretching too much after restarting kicking and stuff?
Ive been doing dynamic stretching for my thighs and hamstrings etc, mostly in preparation for the splits. Any ideas? Maybe Im just pushing it too hard.
Thanks.

[Papa Lazarou]

Don't trust us over professionals man - running with our advice could be dangerous.

Sounds like you've got what I had maybe...

Spare the kicks for a while (at least a few days) while lightly and regularly stretching your hip flexors (muscles in the front of the hip). Once the noise isn't painful and the crunching reduces a bit, then you can phase the kicks back in gently. Continue the stretching and, if the noise worsens again, rest more.

If long, complete rest doesn't work, and the pain continues, you should probably get it looked at.

Hope that works.

[Sleepy]

as good as ppl on this forum are they dont know you or your condition so go see a doctor or physio or suchlike and get checked out properly.

[Trixter]

If it's a pop in your hips, just ignore and stretch and kick, as max said. It'll disapear. I ahve same thing and I just need to stretch more :)

MAN UP AND STRETCH, ARGHHHH.

[Papa Lazarou]

Only 'ignore' it once it's painless.

Pain - tells you when something's wrong.

[Shear]

Go see a chiropractor, nuff said.

[J540lover]

Yea I`ve been stretching. I woke up this morning and the pain is completely gone. And I`ve done some kicks and its only made a crunching noise once, which didn`t hurt. Im pretty sure its ok now. I think maybe I overdid it with stretching hip flexors too much when Id just started coming back to stretching. (Does that make sense?) So yea.
Thanks everyone.

[Papa Lazarou]

Yeah that's good news. If the pain comes back just rest it again. Keep stretching and the crunching should improve.

Given the fast recovery, it was probably a muscular thing rather than a bone or tendon/ligament thing - so yeah, sounds like you overdid the stretching or kicking. Just go easy and tone it down if the crunching gets worse again.

Glad the pain went away.

[J540lover]

Cheers.