Groin pain when running – sources and causes
Groin or groin pain is a fairly common problem for runners. They can appear suddenly after a greater load, typically after a long race. Either right there, or after you’ve sat down for a hearty dinner or a vehicle carrying you home. Then you want to stand up and it doesn’t quite work. The hip cannot be stretched and the groin hurts sharply. You have to shorten the step and hope that it will pass by the morning. It may be better, but the step still remains shorter and bounces badly off the leg. Sometimes the trouble develops gradually. Let’s break down a little about the sources and causes of these difficulties. What running errors can cause these problems, and what corrective exercises are there?
Pain from overload of the hip joint
Pain in the hip joint itself is manifested precisely in the groin area. If the hip hurts from the side – it probably hurts “only” muscle tendons. This is definitely a better option. Pain in the groin may mean that the hip joint is already damaged, or we overload it so that structural damage occurs over time. Damage can be at the level of the cartilaginous rim of the joint socket, which usually occurs by chronically inappropriate load – hip squeezing. Or at the level of the bones, in which case it is arthrosis. Such arthrosis may not concern the entire joint and may not even be seen on a classic X-ray. In the hip, a very localized arthrosis is often formed, the beak on the head or edge of the socket in the place where the bones too much and unnaturally bump into each other. The pain classically spreads along the front of the thigh to the knee. It may happen that initially only the knee hurts.
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This pain should not be overcome and passed for a long time. The hip is a very important supporting joint. It decides our stereotype of walking. If there is any painful restriction or obstacle in the joint, the stereotype of walking immediately changes. However, another area will begin to overload. Most often it is the lumbar spine. The consequence of the restriction in the hip is then typically a herniated disc. This, too, can be the first sign of a poorly built hip. Quite logically, it is not advisable to deal only with a prolapse in the back, because until we put the hip in order, the lumbar spine will still be overloaded.
These difficulties are easier and sooner to reach people who already have some anatomical predisposition to it. Typically, these are people who suffer from a congenital developmental defect of the hip. That is, those who wore stirrups, duvets or double packs like babies. However, many children have escaped attention, so they do not even know about this developmental defect. Anyway, these people have a hip joint less stable. Therefore, they have to rely more on the correct and sufficient work of the muscles to replace the imperfect structure. But this will be very difficult to do on its own. The joint is unstable, so it becomes leverged and damaged when moving. It is not uncommon for problems to appear around the age of 30.
Tendon pain
This pain often precedes the difficulties listed above. The groin is the place of attachments of the large muscles of the thigh. In most cases, it is these tendons that hurt in our groin. Such a tendon begins to hurt when his muscle is in increased tension. Why does any muscle increase its tension? This is because another muscle falls out of function. Or also because the joint has fallen into the wrong position, which favors one muscle and disadvantages the other. So the solution is obvious. It is necessary to stimulate the muscle that is in attenuation, and thus the joint will get into the correct position. If we practice this during the day and try to maintain such a correct position, muscle tensions will be balanced and the tendon, or muscle, will stop pulling.
Pain transferred from the lumbar spine
We have stated that hip restriction can cause overload to subsequent damage in the lumbar spine. The process can also be the opposite. A problem in the lumbar spine (e.g. blockage in the loins, overloading of the spine by improper strengthening of the trunk, herniation of the disc) can also cause groin pain.
It may even happen that the back does not hurt, but only the groin and the front of the thigh or lower abdomen hurt. You then try to stretch and relax the groin all the time, but it does not lead to an effect. Often rather to the opposite. By stretching the groin, we often stretch our loins, making the situation worse. On the contrary, we can improve the difficulties if we strengthen the core of the body.
Other causes
Another, less common cause is the so-called bursitis – i.e. inflammation of the gravitational sac in the hip joint area. This is due to overload again due to a certain muscle imbalance in the hip area. Then there are various syndromes of pinching of the joint capsule, etc. Pain in the groin can also be caused by an inguinal hernia. This can very easily be confirmed or ruled out by the surgeon by palpation or with complete certainty by ultrasound.
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