Pulled Muscle

Hi everyone --

I wasn't able to find very much in here about pulled muscles, so I thought I'd start a new thread.

I recently returned to playing soccer after a 7-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I went really hard my first game and ended up with a very very sore right leg - pretty much everywhere between the hip and the knee. That eventually morphed into what felt like a genuine hip flexor strain, which, after a few more games, turned into what felt like a bonafide pulled thigh muscle.

The next few games, the muscle would start to hurt considerably during the game and especially whenever I kicked the ball or sprinted, to the point where by the end of the game I would have to either play goalie or limp around. It would hurt for about 24 to 48 hours after the game, but then go away.

I can feel the pain when I press on the spot where I believe the pulled muscle is, and when I do the classic standing quad stretch, I do feel it -- and the pain is consistently in the same spot.

I can walk and run fine, though.

But every time I start playing soccer again I feel like I "reinjure" it about 15 minutes into the game.

I'm trying to figure out if this is TMS or a genuine "pulled" muscle. I suppose going back to soccer after 7 months off is enough to pull just about any leg muscle, but...still questioning it because it started out in my hips then went to my thigh, and it heals pretty fast after the game. Then again - the triggers are consistent: playing soccer, and specifically kicking and sprinting. And it's consistently there every time I do that quad stretch.

Thoughts?