Hi, I am a kicker for a football team. About 6 weeks ago, I told my athletic trainer that I was having pain when I kicked in my upper quad which he diagnosed as a muscle strain in my hip flexor. I took a little bit of time off and then started to ease back into it. Never got back to 100 percent pain free but once I was able to kick I started back limiting my number of kicks to less than 20 a day as opposed to 40-50 before. Since then, the pain has moved up higher very close to the hip joint. It is often very painful to kick the ball. I am beginning to feel an aching pain when i walk and sometimes at rest. Do you think it is still just a strain or could it be something worse?