Movement on the ice is much different from running on a field or court. Due to the nature of “push-off” on the ice surface, action of the legs becomes perpendicular to movement direction. Powerful hip extension and abduction motion propels the athlete forward, while the hip adductors and flexors work to decelerate the leg and then contract during swing phase. It is this deceleration that causes the groin area to be one of the most common soft tissue injuries in hockey. All the hamstring injuries you see in football? This is hockey’s equivalent.
Before we go in to strengthening concepts, first we need some background and research to back up the previous paragraph. The “groin” area refers to the adductor muscles in the region between the abdomen and thigh. This is a group of 5 muscles (pictured below) that work to do just what the name says: adduct (move towards the midline) the thigh. A 2010 research article reviewing studies from 1990-2009 showed 10-11% of all injuries in hockey and soccer players around the world are groin strains. Another study showed that professional hockey players were 17x more likely to sustain an adductor muscle strain if their adductor strength was 80% or lower of their abductor strength. Finally, a 2001 article showed “Low levels of off-season sport specific training and previous injury are clearly risks for groin injury at an elite level of hockey.”
(Photo taken from Google via Virtual Sports Injury Clinic)
Now on to the part you came here for, training. Due to most weight room movements occurring in the sagittal plane, you need to get creative in order to effectively strengthen the groin muscles. Isometrics and frontal plane movement is the best way to attack this region.
Copenhagen Plank
Start with the top leg’s knee or thigh on the bench. You can increase difficulty by progressing to where just your ankle or foot is on the bench. Bottom leg is never on the bench.
Foam Roller Groin Squeeze
Seated isometric. Keep the roller in-between your thighs, actively squeeze the entire time.
Medball Groin Squeeze
Lie on your back, keep the knees bent. Just like with the foam roller, actively squeeze the entire duration. This should act as a progression from the foam roller since this will add a bit of a load.
Slideboard
(no video). This is a great option for hockey players because unlike the stride on the ice, it is a closed chain movement due to the stops at either end of the board. This can allow you to train in the frontal plane with less worry about overuse injury in the off-season.
Side Lying Adductor Leg Raise
(no video). Lie on your side, cross the top leg over the bottom and have the foot flat to the ground. The bottom leg is now to be actively raised and adducted towards the midline of the body.
Programming
Where do you place these within a strength training program? That could take up another full article, but I will touch on it briefly. I program groin strengthening almost daily for my hockey players. Exercises such as the Copenhagen plank and the squeeze variations aren’t highly taxing like a front squat or trap bar deadlift, so they won’t be the primary movement within a complex. They usually show secondary to a main lift or in our accessory complex near the end of a session. Slideboard, especially when used as conditioning, is completed after a weight training session. There are also more options than just the 5 listed here in this article.
References
Emery, C. A., & Meeuwisse, W. H. (2001). Risk Factors for Groin Injuries in Hockey. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 33(9), 1423-1433.
Tyler, T. F., Nicholas, S. J., Campbell, R. J., & McHugh, M. P. (2001). The Association of Hip Strength and Flexibility With the Incidence of Adductor Muscle Strains in Professional Ice Hockey Players. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 29(2), 124-128.
Tyler, T. F., Silvers, H. J., Gerhardt, M. B., & Nicholas, S. J. (2010). Groin Injuries in Sports Medicine. Sports Health, 2(3), 231-236.
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