Hip and groin injury management in English youth football: a survey of 64 professional academies

ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the strategies used in English football academies to manage hip/groin injury.

Methods: Eighty-six academies were invited to complete an online survey based on three themes related to hip/groin injury: (1) prevention, (2) screening and (3) return-to-play (RTP).

Results: Sixty-four (74%) academies responded, of which fifty-two (81%) regularly conducted hip/groin injury prevention exercises, most commonly core/abdominal related, while only half of academies used high-load eccentric exercises. Fifty-three (83%) utilised screening measures for hip/groin injury, with adductor-strength testing commonly used in 40 (77%) academies, whilst patient-reported outcome measures were used infrequently (6%). Fifty (78%) academies followed a specific RTP protocol, often linked to player baseline scores, with adductor-strength deficits and pain on RTP tests commonly noted indicators of readiness to RTP.

Conclusion: Most, but not all responding academies, address prevention, screening and RTP in their management of hip/groin injury. Many preventative exercises are utilised, with core/abdominal related exercises being the most common. Screening for baseline scores, in particular assessing adductor strength, is often used for gauging RTP post-injury. Most management methods described by academies link to current evidence-based literature; yet many elements of practice could be improved/standardised in the academy youth football level in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Football
• screening
• academy
• prevention
• hip
• groin

Disclaimer

Views expressed in the submitted article are of the authors and not an official position of any institution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.