Hockey Training to Prevent Groin Strains
Understanding Adductor Strains and How to Avoid Them
Nov 12, 2009
Because previous injury is the best predictor of future injury, it’s important that hockey players do everything they can to avoid these injuries in the first place. In order to design exercises that prevent groin injuries, it is necessary to fully understand the role of the involved muscles.
What Is The Groin?
When people refer to the “groin” they’re really referring to a group of muscles known as the “adductors”. This muscle group is comprised of 5 major muscles (adductor magnus, adductor longus, adductor brevis, gracilis, and pectineus), some of which also assist in hip extension (moving the thigh backward) and hip flexion (moving the thigh forward). Of these, the adductors that also assist in hip flexion are the most commonly injured. These are the muscles that most directly decelerate the skating stride leg (hip extension, abduction, and external rotation), and rapidly return the leg back under the body. As you can imagine, these muscles are under a lot of stress during practices and games with hundreds of repetitive high force, high velocity skating strides. It probably shouldn’t surprise you then to learn that these muscles are usually strained during the pre-season, when players aren’t accustomed to the unique stresses the skating stride places on the body.
Preventing Groin Strains
There are a few simple strategies that all ice hockey players can do to help avoid groin injuries. Groin injuries can be prevented by creating appropriate range of motion and strength balance around the hips. Hockey players generally fall into one of two categories: 1) Glute tightness and adductor weakness; or 2) Excessive adductor tightness. The first group should STOP stretching their groin, and focus on stretching their glutes and strengthening their adductors. A great way to stretch the glutes is simply to lie on your back and pull one knee across your body toward the opposite shoulder. You can strengthen the adductors by putting a medicine ball between your knees while you’re lying on your back and trying to crush the ball. The second group should focus on improving the range of motion and extensibility of their groin muscles. This can be done by kneeling down and spreading your knees as far apart as possible. Keeping your back flat, place your hands on the ground in front of you. Push your hips back as far as you can while still keeping a flat back.
All hockey players can minimize their risk of pre-season groin injury by incorporating lateral movement into their off-season training programs. One of the best conditioning tools for ice hockey players, which also helps prevent groin injuries, is the slideboard. Conditioning in this lateral movement pattern helps place stress on your adductors as they drag on the board behind you and rapidly pull in at the end of the stride that is similar to that of a skating stride. You can also use the slideboard to do reverse and lateral lunges, which will help improve functional leg strength and minimize your risk of adductor and hip flexor strains. It’s a phenomenal training tool, and way cheaper than a treadmill or exercise bike!
As I mentioned above, the “groin” muscles mainly function to decelerate the stride leg. By improving the ability of these muscles to withstand this high force, high velocity stretch, you can significantly reduce your risk of suffering a groin injury. Remember that preventing injuries is always about creating appropriate range of motion and strength balance across a joint. Resist the temptation to stretch every muscle that you think “feels tight”. Many hockey players suffer groin injuries because their adductors are TOO LOOSE, and their glutes are too tight. In this case, stretching will actually make your condition worse and delay your recovery. Follow the recommendations in this article and you may never suffer another groin injury again.
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