Preventing groin strains

Prevention of groin strains is similar to other muscles in that there are things you need to do before and after training, as well as strengthening work inbetween training.

Before training, it is important to warm-up thoroughly, especially for something like football where there is twisting adn turning and kicking balls. Start with jogging, gradually building up to sprinting and then stretching. The aim is to take the muscle from a short, rested, state, to it's full length. Neal uses both static and active or dynamic stretches. Dynamic stretches involve movements like side lunges to stretch and then shorten the muscle, just like it happens in a game. The muscles need to be ready to act like this from the first minute of the match.

If you strengthen a muscle then it is going to get shorter and shorter over a period of time. So stretching is really important to do alongside a strengthening routine. On the reverse of that, if you just do stretching and flexibility, the muscle is very long, but if you don't have the strength this is when it is most vulnerable, so injuries are more likely.

Strengthening can be done using resistance bands or cables. Even a groin resistance machine if this is all that is available to you. A lot of sportsmen have very strong abdominals but they don't work on the groin muscles. The abs get so strong and pull very hard on the pelvis and the groin muscles don't have the strength to counteract it.

Sports massage is good for injury prevention, it can be used before and after training to get you ready for training and then to flush away waste products. A warm-down will also help with this.