Prevalence and severity of hip and groin pain in sub‐elite male football: a cross‐sectional cohort study of 695 players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to investigate the prevalence of hip and groin pain in sub-elite male adult football in Denmark and (b) to explore the association between prevalence and duration of hip and groin pain in the previous season with the Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score (HAGOS) in the beginning of the new season. In total 695 respondents from 40 teams (Division 1-4) were included. Players completed in the beginning of the new season (July-Sept 2011) a self-reported paper questionnaire on hip and/or groin pain during the previous season and HAGOS. In total 49% (95% CI: 45-52%) reported hip and/or groin pain during the previous season. Of these, 31% (95% CI: 26-36%) reported pain for >6 weeks. Players with the longest duration of pain during the previous season had the lowest HAGOS scores, when assessed at the beginning of the new season, P < 0.001. This study documents that half of sub-elite male adult football players report pain in the hip and/or groin during a football season. The football players with the longest duration of pain in previous season displayed the lowest HAGOS scores in the beginning of the new season.

Is stiffness related to athletic groin pain?

“…Athletic groin pain (AGP) is prevalent in field sports with recurrent accelerations, decelerations, and changes of direction . Despite this, the biomechanics contributing to AGP remains poorly understood and under investigated in comparison with other sporting injuries, such as anterior cruciate ligament injury and patella femoral pain syndrome …”

“…When investigating stiffness, sagittal plane actions, such as running and hopping, are the most commonly used activities examined in this area. However, field sports require dynamic actions not confined to the sagittal plane, and these multi‐planar movements are common in sports where AGP is a common presentation . A movement stressing frontal and sagittal plane control such as a lateral hurdle hop task may thus be a more effective screening test to examine stiffness qualities in AGP patients.…”

The Adductor Strengthening Programme prevents groin problems among male football players: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

“…Traditionally, players with problems at baseline are excluded, recording only new cases during the intervention period. From a previous study, we know that >50% of the players reporting groin pain in the previous season still had pain at the beginning of the new season 9. Removing players having groin symptoms at baseline would have resulted in a group not being representative for the population of footballers where groin problems are very common.…”

Epidemiology of time loss groin injuries in a men’s professional football league: a 2-year prospective study of 17 clubs and 606 players

“…Finally, using a time loss injury definition is likely to underestimate the true burden of groin pain in football 26. Our injury definition excluded groin pain without time loss, which is relevant considering the gradual onset of most (68%) of the groin injuries.…”