Gilmore’s Groin and Core Stability

Gilmore’s Groin and Core Stability

The importance of core stability for Gilmore’s Groin

Gilmore’s Groin is a common chronic injury affecting sports that involve kicking. It was named after Jerry Gilmore, who first recognised the specificity of the injury in 1980. It is also known as a sports hernia. Gilmore’s Groin is characterised by a tear to the aponeurosis (sheet-like tendon) of the external oblique muscle and/or a tear to the internal oblique tendon.

The main symptom is pain experienced during sport, especially with twisting and turning movements. The pain usually radiates to the adductor muscle area (inner thigh) and even to the testes. Stiffness and soreness will be experienced post-activity while the following day is usually characterised by movements such as difficulty in getting out of bed or a car. Actions that increase intra-abdominal pressure such as sneezing or coughing can also cause a pain response. It is common that in the early stages of the condition manifesting itself, the person will be able to continue performing their activity, but it will get progressively worse if they continue. Other lesser symptoms include swelling, weakness, instability and locking of the pelvic area.

There are many conditions that result in pain in the groin area so it is important that it is correctly diagnosed by a medical professional. Treatment includes wearing compression shorts and undergoing physiotherapy which is important in teaching the person to correctly stabilise and strengthen the hip area. It is important to know that this is most probably just a temporary solution and will only delay the necessity for reconstructive surgery (assuming the person wants to continue playing their sport). Surgery for Gilmore Groin has been proven to be extremely successful in repairing the damage and allowing the athlete to return to their previous level of performance.

Whether pre-or-post op, or even if one decides not to have an operation, the first area that needs to be developed is their core stability. Core strengthening and stability exercises (focusing on the Transverse Abdominus (TA) and Multifidus) are necessary for improving muscle function across the trunk and pelvis and counteract the shearing forces experienced during sport.

What a lot of people struggle with,is to actually engage their TA and Multifidus, as they tend to ‘over-engage’ and recruit their larger abdominal muscles instead.

The most effective position to learn how to isolate your TA is by kneeling on all 4’s. Once in this position, allow your abdominal area to relax completely so that the stomach sags down slightly (due to gravity). To contract your TA, gently pull in the stomach so that the belly button is drawn towards the spine. As mentioned before, don’t pull in too hard otherwise the larger abdominal muscles will take over. Secondly, don’t confuse this contraction with breathing in and sucking the stomach in. The golden rule is that one should be able to hold the contraction whilst continually breathing and holding a conversation. It is difficult to master this task at first but once one gets the hang of it, it becomes second nature. One should try to hold the contractions for about 4 seconds (repeat 20 times) at first and then once the technique has improved, to increase the holding time to 10 seconds. Eventually, one should be able to hold the contraction indefinitely.

Once you’ve mastered being able to control the contractions, you can progress to repeating the contraction in different positions, such as sitting and standing and ultimately to while doing other exercises. Although it’ll seem strange at first, once you’ve mastered isolating the TA, ultimately, you’ll not have to concentrate on them during other larger movements and they’ll recruit automatically, thus improving your posture and lower back and pelvic stability.

The TA acts as a corset and provides stability for the trunk and pelvis whereas the the Multifidus mentioned earlier, runs longitudinal and increases stability along the spinal column. The contraction technique mentioned above is to allow for TA activation but usually, when the TA contracts, the Multifidus will automatically follow suit and contract thus they are also vital in lower back pain management.