Objectives: Measures of adductor strength, flexibility and self-reported symptoms offer insights into athlete hip/groin pain and function. Understanding the relationship between these measures, may determine their suitability for use within football medicine.
Design: Prospective clinical case series study
Method: Eighteen youth professional footballers (18.8 ±1.18 years) from an English Premier League club completed two adductor squeeze tests (short and long-lever), the HAGOS (sport) and Bent Knee Fall Out; two days post game-day, during a period of four months.
Results: Adductor strength reduced beyond the minimal detectable change (MDC) on 16 occasions for the long-lever squeeze test (MDC=7%) and 7 occasions for short-lever squeeze test (MDC=15%). On 17 occasions, participant BKFO scores reduced beyond the MDC (21%). A relationship between both squeeze tests and HAGOS (sport) was observed explaining 12% variance for the short-lever (R2 = 0.121, p=0.006) and 7% for the long-lever (R2 = 0.065, p=0.046). Changes in these measures appear to occur simultaneously. The bent knee fall out showed no statistically significant (P= >0.05) correlation to either squeeze test (rp =0.153 / 0.193) or HAGOS (sport) (rp = 0.182).
Conclusion: This study adds to the literature surrounding objective and subjective measures of hip/groin pain in professional youth footballers. The long-lever adductor squeeze test detected meaningful changes more frequently than the short-lever. Both tests shared a weak, albeit statistically significant relationship with HAGOS (sport), whilst the bent knee fall out did not. A larger prospective study is warranted to increase confidence in selecting these measures for monitoring footballer hip/groin pain.