Massage therapy · Kitchener–WaterlooGilmore's Groin

Gilmore's groin tends to be quite common in people who play kicking and twisting sports such as football, rugby and Gaelic football. The condition is named after Jerry Gilmore, the London surgeon who described it in the early 1990s (Elattar et al., 2016). It has also been referred to as a "sports hernia" or "sportsman's groin", but there isn't an actual hernia. The term now preferred in the UK is "inguinal disruption" (Clelland and Varsou, 2019). It is characterised by damage to the tissues around the inguinal canal (a passage through the lower abdominal wall in the groin). Gilmore described a tear in the aponeurosis (a flat sheet of tendon) of the external oblique muscle, and a tear of the conjoint tendon (where the tendons of two of the deeper abdominal muscles join and attach to the pubic bone) (Elattar et al., 2016).

Gilmore's Groin Anatomy

How to Treat Gilmore's Groin

Treatments you may want to discuss with your family doctor or nurse practitioner

Tips

• Core stability and strength exercises can help to improve muscle function across the pelvis and the trunk.
• Improving muscular strength and stability may help to counteract the large forces applied to the lower abdomen and pelvis during sport.
• If you notice pain when turning and twisting, ease off those activities and speak to me.
• Someone with Gilmore's groin will often be sore and stiff. Getting out of bed on the day after sport can be quite challenging.
• Groin pain has many possible causes, so see your family doctor or nurse practitioner for a proper diagnosis if your pain does not settle.

Gilmore's groin usually builds up from repeated twisting and kicking, with strong inner thigh muscles pulling against a weaker lower abdominal wall. My aim is to settle the area down, restore balance between your hip and trunk muscles, and build your core and pelvic strength so your groin copes with sport again.

I start by assessing how your hips, pelvis and lower back move, testing the strength of your inner thigh, hip and abdominal muscles, and asking about your sport and what brings the pain on. Groin pain has many possible causes, so if anything points elsewhere, such as a lump that comes and goes, I'll ask you to see your family doctor or nurse practitioner.

Settling It Down

• Easing back on the twisting, kicking and sprinting that flare it, while keeping you active with exercise that doesn't hurt
• Hands-on work for the inner thigh, hip flexors, buttocks and lower back, keeping off the tender spot at first
• Gentle, pain-free holds for the inner thigh and deep abdominal muscles
• Warm or cool applications in the clinic, and I'll show you how to use ice at home

Building Strength

• Core and pelvic stability work, starting slow and controlled and building to side planks and anti-rotation holds
• Inner thigh strengthening, progressing to Copenhagen planks
• Bridges, step-ups, lunges and single-leg balance
• A home programme between visits and, if you lift, squats and deadlifts built back up gradually

Back to Sport

1. Elattar, O. et al. (2016) 'Groin injuries (athletic pubalgia) and return to play', Sports Health, 8(4), pp. 313–323. doi: 10.1177/1941738116653711.
2. Clelland, A.D. and Varsou, O. (2019) 'A qualitative literature review exploring the role of the inguinal ligament in the context of inguinal disruption management', Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy, 41, pp. 265–274. doi: 10.1007/s00276-018-2170-6.