Diagnosis And Treatment Of A Groin Pull

Diagnosis Of A Groin Pull

Landing on a diagnosis of a groin strain, groin pull, pulled groin whatever you want to refer to it as requires taking a short history of the onset of pain and it’s behavior. Doing so allows the practitioner can understand what the individual did that they feel led to the injury and what their current limitations are and their general level of health and athletic activity. An appreciation for the type and amount of load applied to the tissues provides useful information regarding understand the type and severity of injury and the future demands likely to be exerted on the area. A physical examination of the area which will often involve palpation,  local mobility and stress testing of the hip and associated tissues as well as some functional testing (depending on the severity of the injury and a patients current capacity to move) all provides useful information to the physio. Generally this history taking process and physical examination is enough to land on a working diagnosis and plan the treatment approach. However sometimes investigations like X-rays, ultrasound imaging and an MRI are be used to help rule out other potential causes of similar symptoms if the diagnosis is not clear.

Treating with an accurate diagnosis is important, diagnosis frequently impacts any management approach, so while groin pain is commonly caused from a groin pull, groin pain can also be the result of a number of other causes. Groin pain can be a complicated pain to accurately diagnose due to many other tissues referring into the groin area and many tests are not 100% specific to individual tissues so pain on some tests may elicit a reaction from a number of different tissue sources.

• Hernias, such as a lower abdominal, inguinal, or femoral hernias.
• Stress fractures to the pubic bone, or neck of femur.
• Hip impingement and/or hip labral injury.
• Osteoarthritis of the hip.
• Lumbar spine, specifically the upper lumbar spine with regard to the groin area.

Treatment For A Groin Strain?

The severity of any groin pull will dictate the management approach and ultimately the return to play time frames. Given time and appropriate management a groin strain will generally recover and patients are able to return to their pre-injury athletic pursuits at the same level of competition. In the early phases of rehab for a groin pull if there is substantial pain, swelling and bruising the application of ice and compression are commonly employed first line treatment approaches by a physio. The prescription of topical, or oral NSAIDS may also be used at the advice of your general practitioner if there is considerable swelling.
Ultimately to assist healing and a return to sport, loading exercises involving strengthening and stretching are frequently prescribed by your physiotherapist. Loading activities are key to conditioning the tissues preparing them for a return to the demands of normal life and sport. In the early recover stages how that loading looks depending heavily on the severity of injury, ideally some form of tissue loading is started soon after injury, or if not at least several days following more passive management once the initial injury symptoms have calmed down.

Disclaimer: Sydney Physio Clinic provides this information as an educational service and is not intended to serve as medical advice. Anyone seeking specific advice or assistance on Diagnosis And Treatment Of A Groin Pull should consult his or her physiotherapist, general practitioner or sports medicine specialist.