 Flintoff picked up his hip injury in the drawn third Test in Antigua
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Andrew Flintoff is to return home from England's tour of the West Indies on Friday to have treatment on his injured hip.
The 31-year-old is due to fly back out to rejoin the tour in time for the one-day matches which begin on 10 March.
The all-rounder sustained a muscle strain in his right hip in the drawn third Test at St John's last week.
The problem kept him out of the fourth Test currently being played in Barbados and he will also miss the fifth Test.
Flintoff's tour has been blighted by injury as he also suffered a left-side strain in the opening week of the tour prompting the selectors to call up all-rounder Ravi Bopara from the England Lions' tour of New Zealand as cover.
Bopara has taken Flintoff's place in the side for the fourth Test, in which England amassed 301-3 in the first day, and is likely to deputise for him again for the final Test in Trinidad which starts on 6 March.
Flintoff bowled flat-out in St John's as England chased victory in vain on the final day but he was in visible distress due to the injury.
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Flintoff would help his own cause if he could feature in the one-day international series
Arlo White, BBC radio 5 Live cricket correspondent
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The England management discussed the best option for trying to get Flintoff fit again last night following the first day's play of the fourth Test at Kensington Oval.
After spending yesterday's morning session receiving physiotherapy in the dressing room, medical staff recommended he temporarily return to the UK to receive better and more intensive rehab treatment overseen by England's chief medical officer Dr. Nick Peirce and his team.
Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, said he was hopeful that Flintoff would rejoin the tour in time for the one-off twenty20 international and the five-match one-day international series.
"We're determined that we are going to do everything possible to get Andrew fit for the one-day international series which starts in a couple of weeks time," he said.
"We feel that Andrew's rehabilitation will be best served by him going home for that period of time."
The longer his injury takes to heal, the more scrutiny will be placed on Flintoff's lucrative deal with Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, which runs for three weeks in April.
Flintoff had earlier insisted he will recover from his injury in time to play in the IPL, which begins in April.
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606: DEBATE
Samina
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His first scheduled game is on 11 April for the Chennai Super Kings against Bangalore Royal Challengers.
"For all intents and purposes I'll be fit," Flintoff told The Guardian.
"The IPL's still a while away so I don't think it will be touch and go."
England would prefer that Flintoff concentrate on reaching peak fitness for this year's Ashes series against Australia rather go to India and risk suffering a relapse.
As BBC radio 5 Live cricket correspondent Arlo White said: "Flintoff would help his own cause if he could feature in the one-day international series - if he doesn't then the clamour for him to be withdrawn from the IPL would grow."
Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers Association has already acknowledged that the England and Wales Cricket Board would make the final decision on whether Flintoff goes to India or not.
"It is very clear that Andrew is centrally contracted, he plies his trade for England. The central contract states that the ECB have the ability to decide where and when contacted players will play.
"The players are comfortable with that, they don't have a problem at all but ultimately if it was touch and go, common sense would prevail and we wouldn't want to take any risk whatsoever," he said.
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