Hockey Player Plague: Sports Hernias and “Groin” Strains

Sports hernias and groin strains are affecting an increasing number of hockey players (and athletes in general for that matter).  These injuries generally appear toward the end of high school and into junior/college/pro levels.

If you’re interested in some of the research, causes, and ways to prevent these injuries, check out an article I wrote called Dissecting the Sports Hernia last summer for StrengthCoach.com outlining some of the research on the topic.

The anatomy involved with these injuries can be very complex, but the concepts involved in preventing them are relatively simple: Maintain balanced strength among the muscles connecting to the pelvis and maintain adequate hip range of motion.  Admittedly, these concepts are “simple” in theory, but difficult to implement.

One of the factors associated with hip and lower abdominal injuries is a loss of hip internal rotation range of motion.

This can be the result of excessive tightness of the hip external rotators.   The mobilization (which can be held at “end range” as a static stretch) in the video below is a great one to maintain hip internal rotation range of motion.

Lying Knee to Knee
[quicktime]http://www.kevinneeld.com/videos/Lying%20Hip%20Internal%20Rotation%20Mobilization.mov[/quicktime]

Basically you just plant your feet, pull your stomach down toward the floor, and pull your knees toward each other.  You should feel this deep in your hips.

Train Smart. Stay Healthy.

Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS
Athletic Development Coach
http://Ice-Hockey-Training.com
http://HockeyTrainingExpert.com
http://KevinNeeld.com

P.S. If you want access to over 230 more exercise videos, go to my hockey training site and sign up for a membership today! The site also has a ton of training programs for players of all ages, incredible articles on everything from training to nutrition/supplementation and a forum moderated by some of the most brilliant minds in sports performance training.

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