How to Avoid a Groin Injury

The groins are muscles that are located on the insides of the upper thighs. They are more correctly called the "adductor" muscles. They are called this because they are responsible for the inward motion of the thigh, which is called "adduction." The main purpose of these muscles is to stabilize the leg and hip during running, jumping and sports-related activities. Because the groin is such an integral part of motion, an injury to it can be quite a setback. To prevent this from happening, there are several steps that can be followed.

Things You'll Need

• Swiss ball

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Instructions

• 1

  Strengthen the adductor muscles. If the groin muscles are weak, they have more of a chance to get injured. They can be strengthened by doing a simple exercise called a ball squeeze. To do this, straddle a Swiss ball with your knees slightly bent. Then squeeze it as hard as you can and hold for about 20 to 30 seconds. Release and then repeat for a series of sets.

• 2

  Loosen it up. If you partake in a sporting event with cold muscles that are tight, you run the risk of pulling a groin. Make sure to do a good warm-up consisting of five to 10 minutes of walking or light jogging.

• 3

  Do some dynamic stretching after your warm-up. Dynamic stretching is different than static stretching in the fact that it involves movement that is sport specific. Some examples of dynamic stretches include walking lunges, high knee lifts and walking sideways.

• 4

  Make sure to stretch afterward. Stretching after an event is just as important as stretching before. But in this case, you want to do static stretching where a stretch is held for a given amount of time. An example of a static stretch for the groin area is a butterfly stretch. To do this, sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you. Bend your knees, place the soles of your feet together and grab your ankles. Slowly draw your feet inward towards your body until you feel a slight discomfort in your groin area. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, release and repeat.