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clownst0pper
02-27-2009, 11:15 AM
Hi all,

For over six months I continue to keep suffering from a recurring injury irrespective of how often I rest. I run around 6k twice a week and play football once a week for 1 hour. The injury always occurs after I have played football and is often caused just by kicking a football. In the center of my upper right thigh (just above the knee, and just down from my pelvis) I have a tight, aching/stabbing pain whenever I kick a ball, or tense my leg. Walking is painful, and running can be excruciating after it has happened; it almost feels like something has ‘torn’.

If I go running during the week, I never tend to experience this problem, however the moment I begin kicking a football it comes back. On the last three times I have played football, the problem has occurred straight away. I warm up on pitch, kick my first ball, and I feel like the muscle in my thigh has pulled/torn straight away. Trying to stretch it/run it off does nothing, and I have had to go in the net as a result and not been able to play for several weeks after as it is so painful.

I hadn’t played football for around 3-4 weeks recently, and played last Thursday for an hour, my thigh was incredibly tight after and I felt it pulling, but luckily finished the game without the usual problem. A week later it still felt incredibly tight. On the way to work this morning I saw a tennis ball on the floor and stupidly kicked it, and sure enough I felt my thigh pull/tear yet again and ended up limping to work with pain as bad as it always is.

Having looked on the website, (and not wanting to self diagnose) the pain seems to be coming from my Rectus femoris area. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can stop this from happening, and what is the best method to cure it if it happens in the future? It seems to take weeks to heal and kicking a ball during that time would instantly make it worse. It’s becoming very irritating as I just want to be able to play football without worrying about it!

Thank you for your time.

L

Heidi
02-27-2009, 02:24 PM
Hi,

Yes it does sound like rectus femoris pain. The reason for this ongoing pain is not clear but the best thing you can do is get yourself to a sports injury professional. Some massage, stretching and strengthening followed by a slow return to football would probably help no end.

The reason your pain occurs on kicking and not when running is probably the differing force of the muscle contraction the resistance applied.

Massage would most likely be helpful as if there is an old tear, there is probably also scar tissue which is inflexible and so reduces the flexibility of the muscle. Massage can break this down. It would also stretch out the muscle fibres and increase the blood flow to improve healing.

Stretching the quads gently on a twice daily basis can also really help. The quad stretch and hip flexor stretch on this page are good:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/stretching/allstretches.php