Bret

AM - 1.5 miles of walking on the trail with Finn and then the pool running equivalent of 5 miles on land.   With the walk today, I did a little "testing" of the injury using a recommended return to running protocol.   1 min of jogging, then 2 mins of walking x5.  Initially I was very tentative and did not do a full minute but got bolder toward the end.  The recommendation is that if the pain level is 2 or lower, you can begin the protocol.   Even if the pain gets to a 3 or a 4 in the running intervals that's ok, but stop if it exceeds that level.   If you pain level afterwards during the day exceeds a 2 then you need to take a day off before resuming the protocol - which builds on itself with 15 levels.  You do each level twice which gradually adds more running time with more intervals and longer ones until there are no walking breaks.  Some may go through level progressions faster and some slower.  I was quite pleased with how it felt following the pool running and doing my daily activities.   

The thing about this hip flexor injury is that generally if you are on both feet at the same time as in standing or running, it is really not too problematic because the other leg absorbs the additional stabilization responsibilities for walking and standing.   But running has you on one leg at a time, however briefly, and the weakness of the injured hip flexor is too much for the muscles that have tears or micro tears and that results in pain and sometime functional deficits.   Deep water running helps with no weight-bearing and helps maintain fitness levels.  Most elipticals are good because you are not isolating the weight of your body on one leg at a time because the machine/equipment "catches" the legs and carries them forward with the movement.   Patience and non-weight-bearing or otherwise put no isolation of weight-bearing on the injured leg allows for healing.  The extent of the injury of course has a direct relationship to how long it may take to heal properly.   Early "testing" can in my experience result in aggravating or prolonging the healing cycle.  The is probably the most difficult part for me - having patience or mindset to allow for the body to heal rarely is on the same timetable as the body's actual healing process.