A groin strain is when the muscles on the inside of the thigh become overstretched or overworked. The groin muscles, also called the adductor muscle group, run along the inside of your thigh. They work to bring your leg in against your other leg, help with forward and back movements of the hip and knee, and play an important role in single leg stance.
Groin strains are common in runners and sports that involve a lot of cutting, twisting, and sprinting, like hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and football.
If you injure these muscles you will notice pain, stiffness, and weakness along the inside of the thigh. If it becomes a long standing (chronic) injury without proper care to fix it, then the pain can radiate to other areas of the leg.
How We Treat Groin Strains.
Our first steps of treatment are to reduce the pain. Isometrics are great for pain relief, here is the set up for one exercise we use:
Lay on your back with knees bent, feet flat, and a pillow between the knees.
Squeeze the pillow for 10 seconds, relax, and repeat for a total of 6-8 times.
Try to limit more strenuous exercises with the leg and, depending on how bad the groin strain is, crutches may be needed to unload the injured leg.
You will also want to continue gentle movement like straight leg raises in all directions, if tolerable.
How To Prevent It From Happening
Even if the pain goes away without treatment, there are two important reasons to still work with a physical therapist.
- To build up strength
- To address whatever caused the problem
Build Strength
After injuring a muscle, it will become weak. Most of the time it will not be back at full strength without some targeted strengthening of the groin muscles.
Address the Cause
The most important aspect is to address whatever was the cause of the problem.
- Are you unstable on one leg?
- Are you stretching too much?
- Is your form not correct on a certain movement?
- Is there a weakness in your core muscles?
Any of these things could contribute to an overuse or acute injury to the groin muscles.
If you want to find out which factors contributed to your injury and get back to your sport, then click the link below to request a FREE Discovery Visit or give us a call at (607) 425-3369!
