ArticleBMC musculoskeletal disorders2021
Long-standing pubic-related groin pain in professional academy soccer players: a prospective cohort study on possible risk factors, rehabilitation and return to play.
Article in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Osteitis Pubis in Athletes in the Era of Pubic-Related Groin Pain: Contemporary Concepts in Diagnosis, Rehabilitation, and Surgical Decision-Making.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Extended Inflammatory Osteitis Pubis With Associated Myositis and Femoral Neuropathy in an Amateur Football Player: A Case Report.Clinical case reports · 2026Article
- Prevalence and severity of pubic symphysis radiographic findings in male and female sub-elite football players with and without hip and/or groin pain.Skeletal radiology · 2026Article
- Return-to-Play Protocols for Various Injuries in Skeletally Immature Athletes: A Systematic Review.Cureus · 2026Review
- Time to return to sports in football players recovering from lower limb soft tissue injuries: a systematic review with meta-analysis.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 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
- Conservative interventions for managing exercise-related musculoskeletal groin pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Article
- Preventive Effect of Cross-motion Swing Exercise on Groin Pain in High School Male Soccer Players: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2025Article
- Current Clinical Concepts: Exercise and Load Management of Adductor Strains, Adductor Ruptures, and Long-Standing Adductor-Related Groin Pain.Journal of athletic training · 2023Review
- Soccer players show the highest seasonal groin pain prevalence and the longest time loss from sport among 500 athletes from major team sports.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDespite being a common overuse entity in youth soccer, scientific data on risk factors, rehabilitation and return to play for long-standing pubic-related groin pain is still rare. The current prospective cohort study aims to evaluate potential risk-factors, propose a criteria-based conservative rehabilitation protocol and assess return-to-play outcomes among professional youth soccer players suffering from long-standing pubic-related groin pain.
methodsMale soccer players with long-standing (> 6 weeks) pubic-related groin pain from a professional soccer club's youth academy were analyzed for possible risk factors such as age, team (U12 - U23), younger/older age group within the team, position and preinjury Functional movement score. All injured players received a conservative, standardized, supervised, criteria-based, 6-level rehabilitation program. Outcome measures included time to return to play, recurrent groin pain in the follow-up period and clinical results at final follow-up two years after their return to play.
resultsA total of 14 out of 189 players developed long-standing pubic-related groin pain in the 2017/2018 season (incidence 7.4%). The average age of the players at the time of the injury was 16.1 ± 1.9 years. Risk factor analysis revealed a significant influence of the age group within the team (p = .007). Only players in the younger age group were affected by long-standing pubic-related groin pain, mainly in the first part of the season. Injured players successfully returned to play after an average period of 135.3 ± 83.9 days. Only one player experienced a recurrence of nonspecific symptoms (7.1%) within the follow-up period. The outcome at the 24-month follow-up was excellent for all 14 players.
conclusionsLong-standing pubic-related groin pain is an overuse entity with a markedly high prevalence in youth soccer players, resulting in a relevant loss of time in training and match play. In particular, the youngest players in each team are at an elevated risk. Applying a criteria-based rehabilitation protocol resulted in an excellent return-to-play rate, with a very low probability of recurrence.
trial registrationThe trial was retrospectively registered under DRKS00016510 in the German Clinical Trials Register on 19.04.2021.
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