What is Adductor Tendinopathy?
Adductor tendinopathy is a gradual onset of groin pain as a result of an overload occurring on the groin muscle and tendons. Adductor tendinopathy will progressively worsen overtime without treatment, with more structural changes occurring on the tendon as the overload continues.
Long standing adductor tendinopathy is one of the more common conditions in sports, with athletes often playing through the early stages of groin pain until it becomes too severe.
What are the symptoms of Adductor Tendinopathy?
The most common symptoms or adductor tendinopathy include:
- Pain felt during activity localised to the groin or inside thigh area
- Difficulty producing maximal strength during kicking or running
- Tenderness when palpating around the inner thigh
- Pain when stretching the groin muscle
- In some cases people may feel tenderness in their core abdominal area
What are the causes of Adductor Tendinopathy?
Adductor tendinopathy is often a result of overuse. The adductor muscles are very active in a broad range of sports – including running, football, horse riding, gymnastics and swimming. The repetitive nature of the movements in some of these sports and the constant change of direction in others heavily stresses the adductor tendon – making athletes more likely to have adductor tendinopathy or other groin injuries.
Other causes for adductor tendinopathy include over stretching, poor hip mobility, core muscle weakness or a sudden increase in physical activity (high demanding work, high intensity running).
How does Elite Foot Care treat Adductor Tendinopathy?
At Elite Foot Care we pride ourselves in ensuring you’re back on your feet, feeling fit and healthy, as soon as possible. Identifying the cause is key, as our podiatrists will take the time to identify the potential causes for your pain.
As Adductor Tendinopathy is caused by an overloading of the tendon and muscle, management involves reducing tendon loading during provocative activities. Tendon injuries, however, do not respond well to resting and hence simply doing nothing will not resolve the condition either.
Instead, a very specific exercise program should be prescribed to maintain appropriate load through the tendon and to elicit a pain-relieving response within the central nervous system. Exercises involve both isometric (sustained holds) and isotonic (slow, heavy, through range) contractions.
Other treatments can be utilised to help regenerate your soft tissue and reduce your pain – including dry needing or shockwave therapy.
Further assessment of your walking, running or jumping biomechanics will allow our podiatrists to determine whether further interventions are indicated in preventing further aggravation of the tendon.