Ouch!!!! there goes my groin

Being a player still, i contstanly struggle with stress, tightness and overall pain in my groin.Just ice it, take very hot baths then ice it , just do that every evening. The constant contraction and expansion of the muscles in different temperatures will help cure the pull a bit faster. Just tough it out. Hopefully you'll be up and ready by your summer league games.


Best of luck


campton

 

Sorry but the prior post just isn't very sound advice at all. You should ice for the first 24-48 hours, continue the ibuprofen and get a wide ace bandage for compression. Rest until the pain and discomfort subside (typically about a week to ten days of complete idleness). If you have a grade three strain, none of this will apply (see your doctor for an accurate assessment of what level strain you have). If you have a grade one strain, then, check out some rehabilitation programs through an internet search that will offer a mix of stretching and strengthening exercises. If you have a grade two or three, your prescribed rest time will double or triple and you are looking at a significantly longer period of rehabilitation. At grade one, with the right rest, and program to regain your flexibility and strength, you could be fairly mobile in about 6-8 weeks.
Toughing it out just isn't prudent anymore, unless you want a chronically bad groin that never really returns to full strength and is prone to re-injury.

 

People always tell me what i do is wrong. It always works for me though.

 

You're young and your body can withstand more abuse than (say) my 48-year-old body. You may see good results in spite of your treatment, not because of it.

 

haha very possible, my 15 year old muscles probably a bit better than yours . Just kidding... whatever follow their advice... YOu all kinda showed me up a bit. If there was a smiley that had a "foot in mouth" gesture. I'd have it out.

 

campton, no slap-in-the face intended.
Hey, man, if I was 15, I'd probably be toughing it out, too...cause sitting instead of playing sucks.
But, seriously, you should be careful with your own self-treatment or you'll become a prime candidate for a chronic (meaning long-time, repeating) weakness leading to re-injury. I had "bad" ankles when I was younger...always got a sprain at least once a season, until I ultimately developed double Achilles tendonitis later on and had to go through a painful rehab program that lasted nearly 10 months. In the process of rehabbing my tendons, I strengthened the muscles supporting my ankles and calves. I've had one ankle sprain since 1991. Before then it was an annual ritual that I often would "toughen out."
Proper physical therapy is not made-up coaching magic; the science of rehabilitation has come a long way...there are routines and programs out there for nearly every kind of injury imaginable.
Immediate proper treatment in the first 24-48 hours can be critical to cutting down total rehab time (sometimes by as much as half!). The strengthening and stretching thereafter can often make the injured area stronger than before. I'm not talking about an ACL or MCL tear, these are still devastating injuries and require surgery and long rehabiliation programs that some people never fully recover from. But for the more common, less serious sprain (such as ankles and groins) there are ways to prevent a chronic weakness from developing (and, thus, avoid becoming "prone" to injury).

 

So then - how can I treat my left patellar tendonitis and double shin splints that I get every season - without constantly eating Ibuprofen (not good for a 25 y/o).

 

Are you sure it's a groin strain?

I thought that's what I had done, in the end it turned out I had torn the labrum, the inner lining of the hip joint.

That pretty much put paid to playing for me, not that I was really any good anyway. I rested up over the winter and it wasn't too bad by the next spring, but I decided that since I'd turned 50 it wasn't worth trying to continue, so I took up refereeing and coaching instead and have been having more fun than I did playing. I join in gentle scrimmages with the women I coach (not that they are all that gentle!) and that's enough for me.

One thing that seemed to help the hip was cycling. It seemed to function as an internal massage or something. Might just be coincidence, but that's how it seemed.

Of course, your problem may simply be a groin strain, but it's worth considering other possibilities.

 

I am not a certified athletic trainer or physical therapist, but I am a certified personal trainer and a licensed (big deal) coach, who has been through self-rehab a lot (too much).
My first advice would be (if you haven't already) get a physician's assessment.
As for shin splints...they can become stress fractures if you don't allow them an adequate period of rest. Compression and ice is almost always recommended after exercising with shin splints. Time off followed by a calf-raise routine (gradually building to 3 sets @ of 15 reps, with your feet in three positions-neutral, facing out and facing in, for a total of 9 sets!), will build both the muscles in your calves and along the shin (tibialis).
Another exercise that is effective is to use an elastic sheet called thera-band (it comes in different thicknesses to provide varying levels of resistance), and perform "push aways" with each foot (you hold the theraband in your hands and make a loop around the bottom of the ball of your foot, straighten the leg and push your toes away from you), also building to three sets of 15 in three positions (push straight ahead, push and turn the foot to the outside, push and turn the foot to the inside). Follow with "pulls" by tying the band to something sturdy and pull towards you, with the band around the instep (again building to three sets in three positions). This is, ultimately 18 sets! Suffice to say, when you get to this point, and have a steady routine of doing this three to four times per week for about a month, your calves, ankle tendons/ligaments and shin muscles will be pretty much fully rehabbed!
You'll be able to withstand just about anything the field can do to you...tackles from behind, maybe not.
Now for the patellar tendonitis...I'm not really sure. If its chondromalacia (sic), there's little you can do other than to have arthroscopic scraping done to remove the internal rubbing of bone against bone and the subsequent swelling and tenderness. But I would suggest a strengthening routine for the lower hamstrings and quads, in addition to the above workouts might be effective. Also, there's a great single set exercise called a single leg squat that, if it doesn't cause you pain or discomfort when doing it may help:
with a barbell across the shoulders (limited weight at first..about 80lbs total), stand on one foot and descend only about a quarter of the way of a full squat then straighten the leg and continue for 10 reps. On the tenth rep stay in the down position for a count of 10, and then continue for 10 more reps. On the 20th rep, again, stay down and count to 10, and finish with 10 more reps, staying down on the 30th rep and finishing with a final straightening to the upright position. Attempt to not put the working leg's foot down during the entire 30 reps, unless you need to regain your balance.
Repeat, with the opposite side. that's it. One set of 30 quarter squats, with a 10 second pause on reps 10, 20 and 30. Its an awesomely effective exercise.
Good luck!
Remember...I'm just an old fart with a lot of experience, but no authority to give medical advice...just advice from my personal history. I hope some, if any of this, may be helpful.

 

Change "left patellar" to "right achilles" and I'm in the same boat.

 

That's a good sign...the noticeable drop in pain and regaining of some mobility. Key now is to not try too much too soon, but to begin, when all swelling is gone, to work on range of motion (stretching) and some light exercises for strength (side lunges), lateral hop with a stuck (gymnastic)landing, cariocas. Let pain be your guide, not your master...

 

Be careful with the groin pull - take it very easy. From what I understand, the groin does not respond well to stretching when injured. Instead, place a soccer ball between your knees and squeeze the ball. Do this at the rate and reps you would stretch otherwise. I'm not a PT, just a former ref/current coach, and this is the rehab exercise I have been told to use on players.

Frankly, I would ask my doc to prescribe PT. I pulled (partially tore) my achilles some years ago. What would have been a 6 month rest period without PT turned out to be 3 weeks of therapy and then I was back on the field - running AR in my first match back (maybe not smart to have started that way...). Physical therapy was the difference - if you want to get back quick, and at the right moment (per your muscle healing), see the doc.

 

Take your time. See a doctor, and take his advice (which will most likely be to take it easy for the rest of the summer). I know it sucks now, but I knew two guys on my club team back in the day who popped their groin muscle shortly before they went to play D1 college ball, and neither of them ever recovered fully (and subsequently got spot duty in college) because they pushed their rehab. It was a tragedy, because either of those guys could have been All-Americans.

 

One of the things that's helped me the most with strained muscles is keeping the injury warm and compact as much as possible. Wear some spandex shorts under your pants at all times except when you're sleeping.

Also, ice a couple of times a day, even when you think it's starting to feel better. If you decide you want to stretch, which is risky, make sure you warm it with a hot bath or towel first. When you do stretch, take it VERY gradually. You want a stretch that you can hold for one minute, so it has to be a very light stretch. Hold it for one minute, rest for one minute, and repeat twice more. When you're done stretching, ice it.

 

When I was in HS I did the same thing. Placekicker on my football team and got a repetitive motion strain of my sacro-iliac (lower back connects to hammy or glutes or thereabouts). Although I ate ibuprofin like [insert your favorite snack here] for about three months, I also got PT four days a week including 3 hours before game time.

Lots of rest and stretching is the best/only way I found to work around or through all of my various muscle pains and it still flares up occasionally especially in cool, wet weather. Man I wish I could afford all the PT I got in HS and college for free...if I went back to popping ibuprofin like I used to it would put a serious crimp in my budget...and probably my liver.

As for the shin splint issue, changing my shoes REALLY alleviated this for me. Don't know if it'll help you but best of luck with it...I hate 'em myself.

 

Wear spandex, put ice inside said spandex shorts...works every time ....

 

for everyone with the tendonitis issues I would say find a good physical therapist who deals with sports injuries. I had some trouble with my left knee a couple of years ago that I was sure was a torn miniscus. But after spending an hour with an excellent physical therapist she was able to diagnose my issue as an ITB problem that was easily cured with some simple stretching.

And I am sure that my right ACL rehab was so short because I had a good physical therapist who really knew what she was doing as well. I suppose it helped that I did my "homework" too. And my surgeon is one of the best which also helped.

I am a big believer in physical therapy.

 

Is this changing into a general, "I hurt my ____ and what should I do" thread? If not, I apologize for my post, but I would like some advice as well

I have a touch of plantar bursitis in my heels off and on. At one point a couple of years back I had to see a specialist for it -- I thought it was a stress fracture. Anyway, it keeps creeping back every now and then. Not bad pain, but uncomfortable nonetheless.

He recommended a different stretching technique for my calf muscles, leaning forward against a wall instead of putting my toes up against one at an angle. This decreases the pressure of the heel bone digging into the bursa sack back there, which can cause inflammation. I've continued to do this now, but as noted I still get some pain after a long weekend.

So all that being said, does anybody else have experience with bursitis and some ways to prevent it?

 

Interesting articles on groin injuries:

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/1054-groin-strain.htm

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/groin-injuries-treatment.html