Pubalgia, also known as the athlete’s injury, is a condition that manifests with chronic pain in the groin area and that affects different muscle groups.
It is a very frequent condition among football, rugby or hockey players, but pubalgia can also cause chronic pain in the groin area in persons practicing high intensity sports that include weight lifting, such as for instance crossfit.
Furthermore, some specialties such as jump can provoke pubalgia, caused by the footwear or terrain. It is also linked to asymmetrical sports with lateral movements and intense adductor activity with torso flexion that generate decompensations that can lead to this type of condition.
Depending on where the injuries are located, we can differentiate between 3 types of pubalgia:
- Upper pubalgia: The anterior rectus muscles of the abdomen are inflamed and the pain is located in the abdominal muscles.
- Lower pubalgia: The pain is located in the adductor muscles.
- Intermediate pubalgia: Both the abdominal area and the adductors are affected.
What causes pubalgia?
The pubis consists of the articulation of the symphysis pubis of the amphiarthrosis type, in other words, both bones are connected by cartilage. The pubic rami of both hemipelvis are united by cartilage that absorbs the energy of the impact against the ground. This articulation also has two functions: absorbing the impact of walking and enabling the expulsion of the baby in pregnant women.
Pubalgia is generally produced by a muscular surcharge caused by the overexertion generated by repetitive and continuous movements, frequent in the daily practice of high performance sports.
This condition appears when there exists an imbalance in the pubis between the abdominal muscles and the adductor muscles, a weakness of the back wall of the inguinal region and a compression of the genitofemoral, ilioinguinal, lateral femoral cutaneous or obturator nerve.
As explained before, this injury is very common in the sports world. The articulation affected by pubalgia contains different muscles that are all force vectors of opposite directions. These are the abdominal recti, the adductors and the pectineus muscles.
When there is a muscular imbalance, this semi-mobile articulation suffers: it becomes inflamed and painful. In high-risk sports (football, rugby, athletics, padel, tennis, etc.), the lack of stretching of the important muscles, bad technique, excessive workload on hard surfaces and lack of hydration constitute risk factors.
Although the main cause of pubalgia is dynamic osteopathy of the pubis, there are also other causes, such as pregnancy, direct traumatism, acute fibrillar rupture, complicated labour, post-traumatic oedema, pelvic dysfunction, etc.
During pregnancy it is also possible to suffer from pubalgia due to the load and the shearing of the articulation, as it becomes more mobile due to the relaxin that turns the pelvis more lax and unstable, in order to be able to expel the baby during delivery.
How to treat pubalgia
The first step in the treatment of pubalgia is to rest and to decrease or interrupt sports activities. In some cases, where the pain is disabling, it may be necessary to turn to inflammatories to reduce the pain as well as the inflammation of the affected tendons, but always under medical prescription.
Once improvement is achieved, it will be necessary to participate in a rehabilitation program carried out by a physiotherapist that includes posture and movement re-eductation and treatment with 2nd generation tecar therapy.
Treating pubalgia with 2nd generation tecar therapy
Capenergy’s second generation tecar therapy is of great help for the recovery of persons suffering from pubalgia.
5 benefits obtained when treating pubalgia with CAPENERGY:
- Treatment of all the muscles involved in pubalgia in one session as the device has more than one channel.
- Improvement of the fascial tension that generates tension in the muscles and pubic symphysis creating new collagen.
- Pain relief and reduction of inflammation.
- Activation of regeneration process of the affected tissues, speeding up its recovery.
- Rebalancing of the body and the anatomic structures to obtain the best conditions to initiate retrofitting and get back to training.
Would you like to know more about Capenergy tecar therapy and how it can help you treat pubalgia and other sports injuries? Request a free demo.
