Minor injury that hasn't recovered after a year?

Question

I've been training in Taekwondo for a while now and last year I developed a pain in my groin area that is aggrivated every time I perform kicks above the waist. It also hurts when I stretch my legs outwards and ocassionally aggrivated when I get out of bed or out of a car.

Its not a crippling pain but for such a small injury I'm suprised it hasn't gone away after a whole year. I've seen an osteopath and a regular NHS physiotherapist but neither could pinpoint exactly where it is or what is causing the pain. They've assumed its a repetative strain injury and given me exercises to strengthen my legs and groin area. However, I've been carrying them out and training lightly yet still there is no difference since last year and I'm worried it maybe a permanent injury.

What I want to know is if anyone knows of previous cases where small injuries like this have become permanent and ended peoples martial arts careers or who I could see about this within the NHS

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I assume you have already tried long term courses of anti-inflammatory medicine, such as ibuprophin?  If not, consult with your doctor about the proper dosage.  I had a somewhat similar situation for a few months, and it only went away after a month of anti-inflammatory treatment.

Answer 2

I have to say that Sifu frank has given you an excellent answer. i have ha doulled groin muscles, but nothung that took that long to heal.

Sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

Answer 3

I had a similar injury once it took over a year to heal. I recommend that you do light stretching. and continue to work out however back off a notch or two to give it time to heal. You probably micro tares in the tendons in the groin area. this is a low circulation area and healing takes very long. to increase circulation continue to work out. DO NOT over do the Kicks that aggravate it full force until the area fully heals. you can cause this to be a permanent weak point by overdoing it. It really sucks to have to hold back yet that is what it will take. Also if you injured this area while kicking I would examine the method you are using to kick. Be sure you are not hyper-extending your joints the knee or the hip. In another 6 months to a year you should be fully healed. Sorry sometimes life is 2 steps forward and one back. This will give you an opportunity to work on your hand work. According to some posters hear we TKD guys don't have any.;)

Good luck

Edit: add what Alex said. I prefer Naprosen like Aleve I use the generic and the dosage last 12 hrs. Be sure to take food before either.

Answer 4

I have never heard of it ending a career, but it could be a disadvantage.

Answer 5

Well it sounds like you tore your groin muscle last year and now it has healed.  There is one problem sometimes associated with that as well as the hamstring and that is that things don't always heal back as well as what they were before you tore or injured them.  A build up of scar tissue on the muscle where the tear was is what this sounds like as well as a strained hip ligament complicating it.  Scar tissue is not pliable or stretch like muscle does and I would start doing some seated leg presses to build up my hip and the area around it.  At the same time start using some muscle rub on it before stretching to warm it up just a little.  Along with this I would look at some static and dynamic type stretching exercises to better isolate that area and warm it up and stretch it a little more effectively and see if this does not help.  These kind of injuries do take a lot of time to heal in part because they receive so little blood flow.  This is one of the reasons why they don't always heal back as well.  

I completely tore mine some years back and it took over a year to heal and that side is a little tighter than the other.  With some work you might be able to bring it back to a par almost to what it was before but it will take some time, effort, and attention on your part.