The hip is where sitting and sport collide. Hours in a chair shorten the hip flexors and leave the glutes underused; then a sport demands power, rotation and sudden direction changes from a joint that has not moved fully all week.
What usually causes it
- Sitting, which holds the hip flexors short for hours at a time.
- Grappling, football and lifting — deep hip flexion, rotation under load, and forceful adduction are all high demand on the groin.
- Restricted hip rotation, which pushes the load elsewhere. A hip that will not rotate makes the lower back rotate instead, which is why hip problems and back problems so often arrive together.
- A sudden increase in sprinting or kicking volume.
Groin strains
Common in field and combat sports, and easy to rush back from. The adductors take a lot of load in direction changes, and a partially healed groin strain re-tears readily. Getting back too early is the most common reason this becomes a recurring problem rather than a one-off.
What treatment involves
Assessment to work out whether it is muscular, a restriction in the joint itself, or referred from the lower back — they present similarly and are treated differently.
Then soft tissue work through the hip flexors, adductors and glutes, joint mobilisation to restore rotation, and progressive strengthening. For anyone who sits all day and trains hard, the mobility work has to be regular, not one-off, or the hip is short again within a fortnight.