Preventing groin pain

Why prevention matters

For many people, sciatica can flare up suddenly and make daily life activities difficult. While the pain often improves naturally, small everyday choices can make a big difference in how often symptoms return. Staying active, building strength in your back and hips, and learning how to manage daily loads all help protect your spine and nerves over time.

Preventive care matters because sciatica isn’t just about pain—it affects how you move, work, and rest. Regular movement, good posture, and early attention to warning signs can reduce irritation on the nerve root and help you stay confident and mobile^{1 2}. Research shows that healthy habits and guided exercise can lower the risk of recurrence, especially when combined with stress management and quality sleep³.

Managing groin pain: what can trigger flare ups?

Flare-ups can happen when pressure or inflammation increases around the nerve root. Common triggers include:

• Sudden spikes in training load: Quickly increasing sprinting, kicking, cutting, or change of direction work can overload the adductor tendons, pubic bone, or hip joint, especially if they were not ready.¹ ⁵ ⁶ ¹⁵
• Low adductor strength compared to the rest of the leg: Research in football players has linked reduced hip adduction strength and previous groin injury with a higher risk of new problems.¹ ⁵ ⁶
• Repeated high strain on the pubic bone: Lots of kicking, twisting, or core work without enough recovery can irritate the pubic symphysis (joint that connects the two pubic bones) and the area where the abdominal and adductor muscles meet, sometimes called osteitis pubis.¹⁵ ¹⁷
• Strong twisting, cutting, or trunk rotation: These movements can stress the abdominal wall and the back of the inguinal canal (short passage that extends through the inferior part of the abdominal wall), and may contribute to inguinal disruption in some athletes.¹ ¹³
• Ignoring early warning signs: Pushing through pain that is getting earlier in sessions, or that lingers after training, can allow a simple overload to turn into long standing groin pain.⁵ ¹⁵
• Bone stress from very high loads or low energy availability: Heavy training with poor recovery, low energy intake, or menstrual disturbance can raise the risk of bone stress injuries in the femoral neck or pelvis, which can present as groin pain and need urgent care.¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹²

Learning to notice these triggers early helps prevent small irritations from turning into full flare-ups.

Habits that help prevent flare-ups of groin injuries

You cannot remove all risk, but small, steady habits make a real difference for groin health.

• Build and maintain adductor strength
  Include adductor strengthening, such as side lying squeezes and Copenhagen adduction variations, two to three times a week in pre season and once or twice a week in season. This type of program has been shown to reduce groin problem rates in male football players.⁵ ⁶
• Progress sprinting and kicking gradually: Increase distance, speed, and number of kicks in steps, not jumps. Avoid adding more than one big change at a time, such as extra sessions and harder drills in the same week. This helps protect the adductors, pubic bone, and hip joint.¹ ⁵ ⁶ ¹⁵
• Train your trunk and hip control: Exercises that strengthen your core and improve hip stability help share load across the groin area and can support both pubic and inguinal regions.¹ ⁴ ¹⁵ Simple things like controlled single leg work, planks, and rotational tasks can be very useful.
• Listen to early symptoms and adjust: If you notice pulling in the groin with cutting, sit ups, or adductor squeeze tests, reduce those loads slightly and emphasise strength work instead of pushing through. Early changes are easier to reverse than long standing pain.⁵ ¹⁵ ¹⁷
• Protect bone health if you are in a high load sport: Make sure your training plan includes recovery days, sufficient energy intake, and attention to menstrual health where relevant. This can lower the risk of serious femoral neck stress injuries that show up as groin pain and need urgent care.¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹²
• Use warm up time for prevention, not just for getting loose: Add structured groin and hip exercises such as the Copenhagen adduction progressions into team warm ups. Studies in football have shown that this simple change can prevent many groin problems across a squad.⁶

How Sword helps to prevent groin pain and injury

Move is a guided movement program designed to help you stay active by building strength, improving mobility, and supporting stable movement patterns over time. It’s often used after recovery from a flare-up to help maintain progress and support long-term movement health.

Sword offers movement support that fits into daily life, helping you continue building strength and mobility over time. Programs are guided by expert insight and supported by technology designed to help you stay consistent.

• Focus on strength, mobility, and stability
• Designed to support movement between flare-ups
• Guided programs you can follow on your schedule
• Non-invasive, evidence-informed approach

Clinical insight

The Doha agreement on groin pain in athletes encourages clinicians to describe groin pain using clear categories: adductor related, pubic related, inguinal related, hip related, and others.¹ ¹⁵ This approach makes it less likely that everything will be called a “groin strain” and more likely that all pain sources are identified and treated, especially when several structures are involved.