One of the most perplexing problems in Sports Medicine is the athlete that presents with groin pain. In the early 2000’s there looked to be an epidemic of “osteitis pubis”. In the 2010’s the groin pain epidemic is now hip related problems. It is just a difficult area especially when the pain has lasted longer than 6 weeks.
For most athletes the pain will initially present post (after) exercise. With worsening pain this then begins to affect the exercise itself. It is most commonly found in those athletes that do twisting and turning with multiple sprint efforts (football codes of all varieties but especially Australian football and World football).
One of leading groin experts in the world is Dr Geoffrey Verrall. He has authored many papers on groin pain in athletes and his research was considered by the Australian Football League (AFL) as being pivotal in identifying osteitis pubis as a common groin pain cause in Australian football players. As well as being an active researcher he was also an active participant in the 1st World Conference in groin pain in sport and co-authored the agreed position statement on the diagnosis of groin pain.
The approach to groin pain is similar to all areas in musculoskeletal medicine. The Sports and Exercise Physicians at the Sports and Arthritis Clinic (SPARC) will take a full story of theinjury followed by a comprehensive examination. In many cases investigation is needed with a plain xray of the hip joint and pelvis and/or a MRI scan of the hip/pelvis being the most common. Following this management can be difficult as it depends on the diagnosis.
The two most common diagnoses made are osteitis pubis and a hip problem. Both of these should be treated non-surgically initially often with a modification of activity. There are some biomechanical predisposing factors to these injures including a restricted hip joint motion. It is important to correct this restriction f possible as this will prevent the condition from recurring. In most cases this can be done with exercises.
Full recovery from a groin pain episode associated with activity can take up to 4 months- the athletes are very unhappy with this but generally are able to exercise whilst recovering. We can assist with alternative exercise programs and rehabilitation exercise here at the Sports and Arthritis Clinic (SPARC).
When coming to SPARC to get your groin pain assessed try and bring all your scans / tests with you. At SPARC we will look at these tests by directly logging onto the website of the company that has taken the images and demonstrate to you what we think the problem is. The Sports and Exercise Phyisicans will give you a clear understanding and a clear forward direction with your perplexing groin injury.