chronic adductor strain? 3+ years - JP Fitness Forums

duke · 02-10-2007, 06:01 PM

Dear Bill and JP Fitness Folks,

Three years ago I suffered an acute groin strain while playing ice hockey in my local adult league. Since then I have seen roughly ten or so medical professionals in the following fields: chiropractic (one with an ART specialty who I am now seeing), acupuncture, orthopedics, sports massage, physical therapy (MAT and biomechanics specialties as well as the conventional stuff) etc. I have learned the following about my injury:
1) From the Biomechanics PT - I have a glute medius that does not participate much, flat feet that could be affecting the recovery of the groin and some very tight deep six (I believe these are in the hip glute area) muscles
2) From the MAT therapist - I have hypertonic abs and tight psoas muscles
3) From the most recent ART therapist - I had a lot of scar tissue, most of which has been cleared out, a previous nerve entrapment which has resolved itself and presently the gracilis and longus muscles are still in a kind of splinting mode.

Noone has been able to solve this mystery.
I have had the most success with the ART therapy (been seeing this guy for one year), but I am still subjected to a very two steps forward three steps back process. Sometimes I tweak my groin and I have no idea what the mechanism was. Two weeks ago, I was experiencing no pain and was increasing my exertion rate by 10% three times a week during workouts. However, after a recent business trip that involved much sitting I am now experiencing much tightness and sorness in the gracilis and longus area from the belly up to the musculotendinous junction. Following that, I began to experience pain and soreness in my pectineus area starting from the upper junction and extending all the way into the gracilis and longus area. Pain and soreness in the hamstring at its junction with the adductor is ever-present with some relief from the ART treatments. I get that sitting could have caused the initial tightness, but what about the stuff that followed it? I have not participated in anything competitive since the injury because of the difficulties I keep coming up against in rehab. Part of me wants to give up and the athlete in me won't allow it.

I need some help answering the following questions:

1) Can anyone make any sense of my pain pattern?
2) What activities (like sitting too long) should I avoid doing to give my groin a more optimal recovery setting? What activities/exercises should I be doing?
3) What other therapeutic modality could be helpful to treating my injury?

Thanks for all of your assistance. I greatly appreciate any help you can offer. This site is phenomenal.

Peace,

chris (alias duke)

duke · 02-26-2007, 05:05 PM

Hello,

It is hard not hearing back from anyone. If nobody has the time or knows what to suggest, I would like to request that you take a moment to communicate that much.

thank you,

Duke

Bill Hartman · 02-26-2007, 07:10 PM

Simplify your thought processes.

Do you have normal hip range of motion in all planes of movement?

Do you have normal hip adductor strength (weak adductors are a quite common cause of groin strain in hockey players) relative to hip abductor strength and right/left sides?

If you answer no to either or both questions, resolve this first.

Bill

duke · 03-05-2007, 02:01 PM

Bill, I do not have normal rotation in either hip and my left adductor is weak as you might imagine since it was the site of the injury. Thanks for responding and if you can suggest a website or resource that might help me to identify exercises to increase ROM in my hips I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,

Chris