SynthesisBritish journal of sports medicine2015
Study quality on groin injury management remains low: a systematic review on treatment of groin pain in athletes.
Synthesis in British journal of sports medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 4 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 51 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
An Examination of the Anatomical and Biomechanical Diagnoses That Exist in Athletic Groin Pain Patients and the Effects of a Biomechanics Led Rehabilitation Intervention in These Same Patients
Reliability of the Doha Agreement Classification in the Clinical Diagnosis of Groin Pain in Athletes - an Inter-examiner Reproducibility Study.
Effect of Holmich Protocol and Myofascial Release Technique on Groin Pain in Tennis Players
Efficacy of Manual Therapy Combined With an Exercise Programme Versus Combined Electrotherapy on Football Players With Adductor Tendinopathy: Randomised Clinical Trial
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 132 citations in OpenAlex.
- Platelet-Rich Plasma Accelerates the Return to Sport in Athletes with Acute Muscle Injuries: A Systematic Review and Statistical Fragility Index-Based Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- Risk of bias and reporting practices in studies comparing VOJournal of sport and health science · 2022Pooled it
- Treatment of longstanding groin pain: a systematic review.Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery · 2019Pooled it
- No evidence for combining cartilage treatment and knee osteotomy in osteoarthritic joints: a systematic literature review.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2018Pooled it
- Regenerative therapies increase survivorship of avascular necrosis of the femoral head: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International orthopaedics · 2018Pooled it
- Is Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Effective in the Treatment of Acute Muscle Injuries? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2018Pooled it
- Non-surgical treatment of pubic overload and groin pain in amateur football players: a prospective double-blinded randomised controlled study.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2017Trial
- Hip and groin pain in physically active adults with a focus on terminology, clinical examination and imaging: A formal ESSKA-EHPA-ESMA Consensus.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2026Article
- Clinical examination findings were not associated with isometric strength or functional performance in adults with groin pain.Journal of orthopaedics and traumatology : official journal of the Italian Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology · 2026Observational
- Pain Sensitivity, Psychological Factors, and Muscle Function in Male Athletes With Long-Standing Groin Pain and Matched Controls.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2026Article
- Integrating Focused Shockwave Therapy into Rehabilitation for Groin Pain Syndrome: A Prospective Study in Soccer Players.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Groin Pain Syndrome: Analysis of Surgical and Nonsurgical Outcomes Between Athletes and Nonathletes With "Sports Hernia" Using a Standardized Management Algorithm.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Risk Factors Associated with Groin Pain in Athletes: A Systematic Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Ultrasound-guided intra-muscular botulinum toxin A in athletes with chronic adductor-related groin-pain: A retrospective observational study.JSAMS plus · 2025Article
- MRI findings in athletic groin pain: correlation of imaging with history and examination in symptomatic and asymptomatic athletes.Skeletal radiology · 2025Article
- Optimizing Conservative Management of Groin Pain in Athletes: Insights from a Narrative Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Review
- Hip and Groin Problems in Female Team-Sport Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2024Article
- Athletes treated for inguinal-related groin pain by endoscopic totally extraperitoneal (TEP) repair: long-term benefits of a prospective cohort.Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of a Preventative Program for Groin Pain Syndrome in Elite Youth Soccer Players: A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled, Single-Blind Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGroin pain in athletes is frequent and many different treatment options have been proposed. The current level of evidence for the efficacy of these treatments is unknown.
objectiveSystematically review the literature on the efficacy of treatments for groin pain in athletes.
methodsNine medical databases were searched in May 2014. INCLUSION CRITERIA: treatment studies in athletes with groin pain; randomised controlled trials, controlled clinical trials or case series; n>10; outcome measures describing number of recovered athletes, patient satisfaction, pain scores or functional outcome scores. One author screened search results, and two authors independently assessed study quality. A best evidence synthesis was performed. Relationships between quality score and outcomes were evaluated. Review registration number CRD42014010262.
results72 studies were included for quality analysis. Four studies were high quality. There is moderate evidence that, for adductor-related groin pain, active exercises compared with passive treatments improve success, multimodal treatment with a manual therapy technique shortens the time to return to sports compared with active exercises and adductor tenotomy improves treatment success over time. There is moderate evidence that for athletes with sportsman's hernia, surgery results in better treatment success then conservative treatment. There was a moderate and inverse correlation between study quality and treatment success (p<0.001, r=-0.41), but not between study quality and publication year (p=0.09, r=0.20).
conclusionsOnly 6% of publications were high quality. Low-quality studies showed significantly higher treatment success and study quality has not improved since 1985. There is moderate evidence for the efficacy of conservative treatment (active exercises and multimodal treatments) and for surgery in patients with adductor-related groin pain. There is moderate evidence for efficacy of surgical treatment in sportsman's hernia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.