Groin strain

The inner thigh consists of five main muscles that run from your pelvis to your thigh bone. They help to move your leg closer to the center of your body. Placing too much stress on these muscles can result in a small tear in the muscle tissue. This will heal with time and the information in this booklet will provide more information to help with your recovery.

A groin strain results from putting too much stress on muscles in your inner thigh. If these muscles are tensed too forcefully or too suddenly, they can get over-stretched and a tear in the muscle occurs.

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Causes and symptoms

Causes of groin strain

Groin strains are a common issue from people who play sports which involves running, jumping and changing direction.

2–5% of all injuries in any sport are due to a groin strain.

Symptoms of groin strain

Symptoms include:

Pain and tenderness in your inner thigh
Pain when you bring your legs together and when you lift your knee up
Bruising or swelling of inner thigh
Your groin may feel warmer than usual
Limping or difficulty moving
Sudden snap or pop feeling followed by severe pain

Diagnosis of groin strain

A groin strain can be diagnosed by history and examination. Imaging is usually not required but, if symptoms do not improve, a scan may be requested to help guide management. Groin strains are graded from one to three depending on how serious the strain is:

Grade one: Mild pain, but little loss of strength or movement
Grade two: Moderate pain, mild to moderate strength loss and some tissue disruption
Grade three: Severe pain, severe loss of strength and function due to a complete tear of the muscle

Self management of groin strain

General advice for muscular injuries include:

For the first 24 to 48 hours active rest is advised to allow the swelling, redness or bruising to settle.
You can use ice to help speed up the reduction of swelling, redness or bruising.
Using simple pain relief can help during the acute stage and to manage symptoms throughout the course of recovery.
After 48 hours it is recommended to start doing some simple exercises to aid in the recovery of the muscles.

Exercises for groin strain

Exercise 1: isometric hip adduction with ball

Lie on your back with your knees bent
Place a ball between your knees
Squeeze and hold the ball then relax

Exercise 2: leg lift in side lying (abduction)

Lie on your side with your knees bent
Make sure your elbow is underneath your shoulder
Using your elbow and bottom knee, push your hip off the ground while simultaneously lifting your top knee in the air but keeping your feet together

Exercise 3: straight leg raise

While lying on your back, raise up your leg
Maintain a straight leg at all times
Keep the opposite knee bent with the foot planted on the ground

Exercise 4: Copenhagen hip adduction with chair

Lie on your unaffected side
Prop your affected upper leg on top of a chair and place your unaffected leg under the chair
Slowly lift the lower leg up, lifting the body into a side shoulder plank position
Slowly return to your starting position
Repeat

What next?

If you are still experiencing symptoms despite following the above advice, it is important you seek advice from your GP. Your GP may decide to refer you to the musculoskeletal clinic or to a physiotherapist.

Page updated 01/12/2020. Review date 01/01/2024

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