Thigh and Hip Injuries

Your thigh and hip contain large muscle groups that are frequently injured in sport and physical activity (e.g. hamstrings, hip flexors, and quadriceps) and also is home to musculature that is associated with chronic injuries in the lower extremity (e.g. weakness of the gluteal muscle group).  Chronic hip and proximal thigh pain can originate from the surrounding soft tissue (e.g. snapping hip syndrome or proximal IT band syndrome) Injury rates for the hip and thigh vary.

Recent studies on high school girls and boys presented injury rates that range from 5.4% to 28.0% of all reported injuries. This variability explained by sport type.  When considering specific sports injuries to the hip and thigh become more prominent. In an 11 year study of men’s intercollegiate soccer injuries scientists reported 18% of all injuries in practice were to the hip/pelvis and thigh (of these 8.2% were muscle tendon strains to the thigh, 6.4 % contusions to the thigh, and 3.9% muscle tendon injuries to the hip and pelvis).

Thigh and hip injuries in games represented 24.4% of all reported injuries (16.6% to the thigh and 7.8% hip/pelvis). Common injuries to the thigh include: hamstring muscle strains, quadriceps muscle strains, contusions, and tendon injuries.