Quick answer: Groin muscle pain that developed gradually, or hasn’t resolved the way a simple strain should, can have several possible causes beyond an adductor strain, including hip joint issues, a sports hernia, or referred pain from elsewhere. Many people find understanding this fuller picture helps make sense of pain that hasn’t responded to typical strain treatment. Persistent or unclear groin pain should be properly assessed rather than assumed to be a muscle strain that will resolve on its own.
Not all groin pain fits neatly into the “pulled a muscle during sport” story. When it’s built up gradually, or a strain-focused treatment plan hasn’t actually helped, it’s worth stepping back and considering the fuller range of things that can genuinely cause pain in this area.
Why Groin Pain Isn’t Always A Simple Muscle Strain
Our companion article on groin injury covers the acute, first-48-hours picture for a clear traumatic strain, a sudden pull during a sprint or a kick, with an obvious moment it happened. This article is for the different, genuinely common scenario where pain has built up more gradually, or where a straightforward strain diagnosis and treatment plan hasn’t actually resolved things.
Groin pain that doesn’t fit the typical strain pattern deserves a broader look, since treating it as a simple adductor strain when something else is actually going on tends to leave people stuck, doing the same rehab exercises without the improvement they’d expect.
The Most Common Causes, Beyond Adductor Strain
Most groin pain articles only discuss adductor strains, which genuinely doesn’t reflect how varied the actual causes can be. Hip joint issues, including hip impingement and labral tears, can produce groin pain that’s often deeper and more constant, particularly worse with prolonged sitting or deep hip flexion like squatting, rather than tied to one specific sudden movement.
A sports hernia, technically a weakening or tear in the lower abdominal wall or the tendons attaching to the pelvis, is another genuine cause, often producing pain that worsens with sit-ups, coughing, or sudden exertion rather than the classic sprint-and-pull pattern of an adductor strain. Osteitis pubis, inflammation of the joint between the pubic bones from repetitive overuse, is another possibility, particularly in athletes who do a lot of kicking, cutting, or twisting movements.
Referred pain from the lower back or hip, where the actual source of irritation is elsewhere but the pain is felt in the groin, is also genuinely common and easy to miss without a proper assessment.
How To Tell Muscular Pain From Joint Or Hernia-Related Pain
While this isn’t a substitute for a proper assessment, some general patterns can help you understand what you might be dealing with. Muscular adductor pain tends to be tender to direct touch along the inner thigh and eases somewhat with rest between activities, whereas hip joint pain often feels deeper, is worse with prolonged sitting or squatting, and doesn’t respond as clearly to rest alone.
Pain that worsens specifically with core-engaging movements like sit-ups or coughing, rather than with sprinting or kicking, leans more toward a possible sports hernia. If your pain doesn’t fit neatly into any of these patterns, or you’re simply unsure, that’s exactly the kind of situation a proper assessment is designed to sort out.
When Groin Pain Needs Proper Investigation
Persistent groin pain that hasn’t improved with several weeks of appropriate rest and typical strain treatment is worth investigating properly rather than continuing the same approach indefinitely. Pain that’s gradually worsening, rather than settling, is a similar signal that something beyond a simple strain may be going on.
Groin pain following a clear traumatic incident is covered by our companion article on groin injury, which addresses that acute picture specifically rather than the broader diagnostic questions covered here.
How Sports Rehab Identifies The Real Cause
A proper assessment at Impact Sports Rehabilitation identifies which structure is actually involved, muscle, joint, or something else, before building a treatment plan, rather than assuming every case of groin pain is the same adductor strain. A Rehabilitation Consultation takes this diagnostic approach seriously, since treating the wrong structure rarely produces good results even with a well-designed rehab programme.
Once the cause is properly identified, sports massage, cupping, and Rocktape kinesiology taping can all play a genuine supportive role in recovery, matched appropriately to whichever structure is actually driving the pain.
Treatment That Actually Matches The Diagnosis
A one-size-fits-all groin strain protocol, adductor stretches and gradual strengthening, works well when an adductor strain is genuinely the cause, but it’s unlikely to resolve pain that’s actually coming from the hip joint or a sports hernia. Matching treatment to the actual diagnosis, rather than the most common assumption, is what tends to produce a genuine, lasting improvement.
Many clients who’ve tried generic groin strain exercises without success find that a proper assessment identifying the real underlying cause, followed by treatment matched to that specific finding, finally produces the improvement the generic approach never delivered.
If groin pain has been dragging on despite the usual advice, Impact Sports Rehabilitation works with clients across Eccles, Salford, Trafford, and the wider Greater Manchester area on identifying what’s actually causing it. Ask about an online consultation if you’re further afield.
Frequently Asked Questions
My groin pain has been there for months, could this actually be something other than a strain?
Yes, genuinely, gradual-onset or persistent groin pain that hasn’t responded to typical strain rest and rehab is often something other than a simple adductor strain, such as a hip joint issue or a sports hernia. It’s worth having this properly assessed rather than continuing the same self-treatment that hasn’t been working.
Could my groin pain actually be a hernia and not a strain at all?
It’s possible, particularly if the pain worsens with sit-ups, coughing, or sudden exertion rather than sprinting or kicking specifically. A proper assessment is genuinely the only reliable way to distinguish a sports hernia from a muscular strain, since they can feel fairly similar day to day.
I’ve done all the adductor stretches and exercises but nothing’s changed, why?
If adductor-focused exercises haven’t helped after a reasonable trial, that’s a genuine sign the pain may not actually be coming from the adductor muscles at all. In our experience, this is exactly the situation where a proper assessment to identify the real cause makes the biggest difference.
Is it my hip joint or my groin muscles, how would I even know?
Hip joint pain tends to feel deeper and worsens with prolonged sitting or squatting, while muscular groin pain is usually more tender to direct touch and eases with rest. That said, these patterns overlap enough that a proper hands-on assessment is far more reliable than trying to work it out yourself.
Should I stop exercising completely while I figure out what’s actually wrong?
Not necessarily, but avoiding activities that clearly worsen the pain while you get a proper assessment is a sensible middle ground. Many clients at Impact Sports Rehabilitation find staying appropriately active, guided by what a proper assessment identifies, works better than complete rest while waiting to understand the cause.
This article is provided for general educational purposes by Impact Sports Rehabilitation and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Anyone with persistent or unclear groin pain should be assessed by a qualified medical professional rather than assuming it’s a muscle strain that will resolve on its own; nothing in this article should be used to self-diagnose. Always seek the guidance of a doctor or other qualified health provider with any questions about your specific condition.
