Well, you might imagine the look of surprise and relief on the face of a client I saw this week when I told him what was finally causing his hip/leg pain.  This particular client trains with one of my staff members.  He has a longstanding history of pain in the upper posterior thigh and groin area.  It flared up recently and he finally went to see a physician.

He was diagnosed with an adductor strain and given a prescription for physical therapy.  My trainer wanted asked for guidance in working with him as not to aggravate the situation yet continue his fitness program.  As I spoke with him, he mentioned his worst pain occurred with sitting.  In fact, he can’t tolerate more than 5 minutes of sitting due to pain.  This struck me as very odd and not typical with adductor strains.

I began to probe further.  Next, I had him do some specific movements and I took a closer look.  My brief exam yielded limited hamstring flexibility and pain/weakness with hamstring resistance.  It was clear that his groin pain was more likely related to a medial proximal hamstring strain and not an adductor strain.  Because the medial hamstring controls hip rotation, his symptoms would easily be provoked in certain movements and positions much like an adductor strain.   

The take away message here is simply to listen carefully and closely examine the affected tissue to determine the true source of pain/dysfunction.  Treating the adductor will NOT cure his hamstring problem.  I am sure his physician is very competent, but often MD’s do not listen closely enough or perform inadequate testing, which leads to an incomplete or inaccurate diagnosis.  Any intervention I offer to clients should yield positive results or improvement within 4 weeks.

If you have an injury or physical goal and are not seeing forward progress in this time period, it is time to take a closer second look at the plan of attack.  It may take a different set of eyes and ears to get you back on track.  The little things really do matter!