After having received many questions about pubalgia, we have decided to talk about this type of injury and clear up all kinds of doubts.
What is Pubalgia?
It is known by several names such as soccer player's hernia or pubic enthesitis, but the most common is Pubalgia, it is one of the most common conditions in field sports (soccer, basketball, rugby, etc.) although more frequently found in soccer players .
It usually appears as an inflammatory damage in the pubic area, it presents groin pain or in the lower abdomen, usually radiates to the abdomen and adductors. It is a pain that appears after physical activity And it gets worse as the days go by. In acute cases, the pain does not subside at any time (even when at rest) and prevents movement as simple as cross your legs.
This ailment is usually more common in men than in women, it has affected large as Kaka,Sergio Busquets or Xabi Alonso.
How is it produced?
There are many and diverse causes, here we bring you the most common:
- The overexertion in the abdomen and adductors or hitting the ball when making crosses or shooting on goal, as happens to many footballers, these gestures can cause a decompensation between these muscles or a overload in the same ones that derive in the pubalgia.
- The dispute of an excessively high number of matches or training sessions without the necessary rest can lead to such an injury.
- The change frequent of playing surfaces (going from soft to hard pitches or vice versa).
- A poor physical preparation can cause this problem.
- A sharp drop on the feet (such as when performing a jump and being thrown off balance in the air) or performing faulty or forced technical gestures could cause pubalgia.
- Errors in the nutrition or hydration.
Treatment
Now that we understand why it can occur and we have an idea of how to prevent it, let's see how to treat it. The best thing to combat and treat a pubalgia is the repose, although this can be complemented with physiotherapy Y osteopathy if we need to shorten the times of the injury. Different drugs may also be prescribed to provide temporary relief for the localized pain in the legs.
Most specialists also recommend incorporation from special warm-up routines intended to improve the irrigation of affected areas and avoid the potential problem of chronic pubalgia, which is quite common in retired soccer players.
The Usual treatment of injury includes:
- Repose
- Anti-inflammatories to reduce pain and inflammation of the affected tendon(s).
- Rehabilitation, electro-stimulation, massage therapy, osteopathy, physiotherapy, etc…
- Specific warm-ups in order to prevent pubalgia from becoming a chronic problem.
- Some athletes require surgical treatment to reduce the excessive pressure that the abdominals and adductors exert on the pubis.
We leave you a video with 3 exercises to help you prevent and work this area.
As coaches, at Futbollab we like to be prepared for any situation and knowing how to quickly identify a condition as painful as this can save our players and the team in general a lot of trouble. If you are interested in the subject, then you will be more interested in our Master in Physical Preparation and Injury Prevention, especially so that you take care of your players and be a great help to the team.
