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groin pain
Osteitis Pubis – what does it mean?
‘Osteitis pubis in the athlete is a painful, inflammatory, non-infectious condition of the pubic symphysis and surrounding structures’ (Mandelbaum & Mora 2005).
During recent years, the diagnosis Osteitis Pubis (OP) has been used more frequently as an umbrella term for groin and pubic pain.
Who is concerned?
Groin pain is most common in sports such as soccer (from amateur to professional level) and all other sports involving a lot of running, cutting, kicking and changes of direction (ice-hockey, American Football, tennis, 2nd most common injury in Australian Rules Football). (Orchard & Sewell 2010)
Signs and Symptoms of groin pain?
The painful area can spread from the adductor muscles (inner thigh) to the pubic bone (pubic symphysis), the groin and the abdomen (sometimes even the scrotum) and be an irritating impairment to the athlete.
Initially, a strain of the adductor muscles is frequently suspected and only after weeks or months of persisting pain, the diagnosis of OP (or longstanding groin pain) is made. However, excessive or reduced mobility of the lumbar spine, hip or pelvis can also contribute to the pain.
A good diagnostic assessment by a sports physician and an individualised rehabilitation program by an experienced physiotherapist are the key points to full recovery and a quick return to sport.
What is the role of physiotherapy?
Physiotherapy addresses initial pain management (‘get fit for a game’) as well as finding the source of the problem and treating it in order to ensure long term benefits of the rehabilitation.
Amongst the most common reasons for groin pain are muscular imbalances of the leg-, pelvic- and back-muscles or instability of the pelvis or pubic symphysis itself.
The physiotherapeutic examination identifies potentially weak or shortened muscles as well as hyper-/ hypo-mobile joints contributing to the pain. Thus, they can be addressed in the physiotherapy treatment sessions, and with a home-exercise program representing an individual and efficient approach to your problem.
Why Top-Physio?
We’ve been gathering experience in successfully treating athletes with groin pain in Austria and Australia for many years. Through our studies in Exercise Physiology, Human Movement, Musculoskeletal- & Sportsphysiotherapy and continuous professional development courses we could extend our scientific and clinical knowledge, also by using Realtime-Ultrasound (Echtzeit-Ultraschall).
Thus, not only superficial muscle layers (also known as global muscles) can be assessed and trained but also the deeper ones. In patients suffering from groin pain, those are regularly weakened or insufficiently activated (Cowan 2004).
In Australia, this method has already been well established in the groin rehabilitation of professional Football players. In Austria, our clients are amongst the first to benefit from it.
Our scientifically and clinically orientated education, the revolutionary use of Realtime-Ultrasound (Echtzeit-Ultraschall) and years of clinical experience (soccer, rugby, handball, triathlon, volleyball) make our physiotherapy services – for you – unique in Austria.
Media
article by Stefan Podar published in the german pt_Praxis journal:
Sprint – Haken – Schuss – Schmerz! in pt_Praxis, Heft 4 2016
Stefan Podar and Christoph Tauber-Huber (2019): Rehabilitation bei adduktorenbezogenem Leistenschmerz. In: pt_Praxis, 2019, Heft 4.
