SPORT INJURY PREVENTION STRATEGIES   pt1            2100w

Causes of groin injuries

Groin pain in athletes can be classified into athletic and non athletic causes. (Please find a table in appendix iii for causes of groin pain). Adductor muscle strains and osteitis pubis are the most common musculoskeletal causes of groin pain in athletes, which are often difficult to distinguish (Morelli and Smith, 2001). Hip injuries associated with sports participation often refer pain to the groin. Exclusion of rare differential diagnoses is often the focus of clinical testing and imaging.

Awareness of overlapping pain referral patterns from the hip joint, the lumbar spine, lumbar facet joints, and sacroiliac joint and abdominal structures is important for accurate diagnosis of the cause of groin pain (Katherine, 2008). Katherine also reports, the common condition that may be associated with acute or chronic groin pain due to Iliopsoas myofascial pain which can be persists as primary problem or secondary problem and suggests Iliopsoas muscle should be included in the assessment of groin pain. Ekberg et al. (1988), found the difficulty in diagnosing the groin pain as it presented with more than one diagnosis in 19 of 21 athletes with longstanding groin pain. Holmich et al. (1999) noticed signs for osteitis pubis in over 60% of their athletes who were primarily diagnosed as suffering with adductor complaints.

Please find the table for differential diagnosis for groin pain in appendix iv

1.3 Principles of Injury prevention

Bahr et al, (2006) described the sports injury prevention program into ‘primary’, ‘secondary’ and ‘tertiary’ (Bahr, 2006 for Clinical sports medicine). They defined primary prevention as health promotion and injury prevention by means of application of external supports for body parts to protect from injury, even for those without any previous injury. Secondary prevention included early diagnosis and intervention to limit the development of disability or reduce the risk of re- injury and this is considered as treatment for any acute injury. Lastly, the tertiary prevention is the focus on rehabilitation to reduce and to correct an existing disability in relation to an underlying disease. This may refer to the process of rehabilitation following any sports injury and bringing back to the level of normal sport.

The successful injury prevention strategies consist of a model developed by Van Mechelen et al (1997). The first step is to determine the incidence and severity of the sport injury problem, needs to be established prior to identifying risk for injury. Van Mechelen (1992) developed a model that follows