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Understanding Your Groin Injury

Groin injuries have been affecting professional athletes more frequently over the past several years, but they are also common among the youth athletes and weekend warriors. We don’t often think about the groin as it relates to athletic performance. However, this is changing with the increased incidence of injury. Despite this increased focus on the groin, not many people know how to most effectively train, strengthen, or prepare these muscles to reduce the risk of injury.

When you are exercising, how often do you think about your adductors (the muscles on the inside of the upper leg)? How often do you feel like you are doing an exercise that is strengthening or challenging those muscles...

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Articles of Interest

Apophysitis of the Pelvis and Hip

The apophysis is the location of a growth plate with a muscle attachment - there are several in the pelvis where the various thigh muscles attach. Apophysitis involves inflammation of one of these with associated dull pain, and is typically associated with muscle overuse. It is usually of gradual onset, and should be differentiated from Avulsion injuries of the Pelvis which present as an abrupt injury.

Common Types of Groin Injury

There are many types of groin injury, some of which can occur together. In fact, as many as 90 percent of athletes experiencing groin pain have multiple types of groin injuries simultaneously.

Femoral neck stress fracture (FNSF)

Femoral neck stress fracture (FNSF) - Pearl: FNSF diagnosis is difficult because the physical exam is non-specific. Patients present with an antalgic gait, pain with end range of motion at the hip, pain with combined flexion, abduction and external rotation, and pain with hip log roll. Pearl: X-rays for FNSF usually are not positive early in the course and if missed can lead to complications such as complete fracture, displacement, non-union, and avascular necrosis. Keep a high clinical suspicion in a running athlete.

Groin Injuries (Athletic Pubalgia) and Return to Play

Groin pain is a common entity in athletes involved in sports that require acute cutting, pivoting, or kicking such as soccer and ice hockey. Athletic pubalgia is increasingly recognized as a common cause of chronic groin and adductor pain in athletes. It is considered an overuse injury predisposing to disruption of the rectus tendon insertion to the pubis and weakness of the posterior inguinal wall without a clinically detectable hernia.

Groin Injuries in Athletes

Groin injuries comprise 2 to 5 percent of all sports injuries. Early diagnosis and proper treatment are important to prevent these injuries from becoming chronic and potentially career-limiting. Adductor strains and osteitis pubis are the most common musculoskeletal causes of groin pain in athletes. These two conditions are often difficult to distinguish. Other etiologies of groin pain include sports hernia, groin disruption, iliopsoas bursitis, stress fractures, avulsion fractures, nerve compression and snapping hip syndrome.

Groin Injuries in Sports Medicine

An in-season groin injury may be debilitating for the athlete. Proper diagnosis and identification of the pathology are paramount in providing appropriate intervention. Furthermore, an adductor strain that is treated improperly can become chronic and career threatening. Any one of the 6 muscles of the adductor muscle group can be involved.

Hip and groin injuries: unraveling the mystery

When it comes to sporting injuries, the hip and groin area is one of the most complex regions, presenting a huge diagnostic challenge to clinicians.

How to Self-Treat a Groin Injury

One of the more debilitating muscle injuries that people frequently encounter is called a “pulled groin.” More medically savvy, an adductor muscle strain...

Painful Facts About Groin Injuries & Why They Occur!

The most common types of groin injuries include adductor (muscle) strains, muscle pain, joint dysfunction, and inguinal hernias. Some lesser common types of injuries include athletic pubalgia (sports hernia), pelvic fractures, osteoarthritis, entrapped nerves, and intrapelvic disorders.

Review of Sport-Induced Groin Injuries

Groin injuries are among the most prevalent lower limb injuries associated with most sport activities. In addition, groin pain followed and exacerbated by sport activities is a chief complication among athletes. Groin injuries also account for a considerable percent of professional sport injuries and cause pain

Sports Hernia (Athletic Pubalgia)

Sports activities that involve planting the feet and twisting with maximum exertion can cause a tear in the soft tissue of the lower abdomen or groin. Sports hernias occur mainly in vigorous sports such as ice hockey, soccer, wrestling, and football.

Stay in the Game: 4 Physio Tips for Reducing Groin Injuries in Football

Groin injuries are common in sports that involve running, jumping, and quick direction changes. These types of movements can put a lot of strain on the adductor muscles, which run along the inner thigh and are responsible for moving the leg toward the midline of the body.

The Most Common Groin Injuries and When to See a Doctor

There are five muscles in that area that work together to coordinate leg movements: adductor brevis, adductor longus, adductor magnus, gracilis, and pectineus. Several types of injuries can cause groin pain. Some of the most common groin injuries are pulled or torn groin muscles, like those that can occur in sports activities.