Injury Prevention: Part ONE – Groin Injuries

Prevention is the best cure - Desiderius Erasmus

Prevention of an injury can be difficult as injury occurrence is usually multi-modal. Extensive research has gone into the development of programs designed to address contributing factors of common injuries. Two common injury sites in sport are; groin and hamstring and both have been the subject of research articles investigating the efficacy of specific exercise intervention on prevention of injury.  

 GROIN

Groin injuries are a common occurrence in change of direction sports like soccer, basketball (e.g Lebron James recent injury) and Australian rules football. With the highest paid player in soccer earning $111 million per year, you can see why prevention of these injuries becomes very important. 

 Haroy et al (2017) looked at the inclusion of the Copenhagen exercise in the FIFA 11+ program (used as a warm up for soccer players) on improving hip adduction strength. 

The Copenhagen Adductor (CA) exercise is a partner exercise where the player lies on the side with one forearm as support on the floor and the other arm placed along the body. The upper leg is held at approximately hip height of the partner, who holds the leg with one arm supporting the ankle and the other supporting the knee (position A in figure 1). The player then raises the body from the field and the lower leg is adducted so that the feet touch each other and the body is in a straight line (position B in figure 1). The body is then lowered halfway to the ground while the foot of the lower leg is lowered so that it just touches the floor without using it for support. It is performed on both sides. 

Figure 1 The Copenhagen Adduction exercise. A start/end-position. B mid-position. 

The article found that the CA exercise delivered in the below protocol (figure 2) resulted in an increase in hip adduction strength and as this is a risk factor for groin injuries, should be included in the FIFA 11+ to try to reduce the incidences of these injuries. 

 Figure 2 The prescription parameters for the CA exercise.

The CA is a fairly safe and easy exercise to self- integrate into the pre-existing FIFA 11+ protocol. However, even with the diligent performance of the protocol, groin injuries can still occur. It is always best to be assessed by a physiotherapist to ascertain a correct diagnosis so you can receive the best treatment possible for your specific condition. Here at East Vic Park Physiotherapy, our physiotherapists are very experienced in assessing and treating groin pain. Additionally, if you would like to know more about the CA exercise or the FIFA 11+ program then click the link at the top of the webpage to book an appointment or call us on 9361 3777. Below is a quick link to review:

https://www.fifamedicinediploma.com/lessons/prevention-fifa-11/