After 2 or 3 days, if your swelling is gone, apply heat. Put a warm water bottle, a heating pad set on low, or a warm cloth on your groin area. Do not go to sleep with a heating pad on your skin. If your doctor gave you crutches, make sure you use them as directed.
You can introduce heat therapy to the area using warm compresses or a heating pad. This can promote blood flow and help relax the muscles. Gradual return to activities. It's essential to ease back into your regular activities gradually.
After the initial swelling and inflammation goes down, some people like to apply therapeutic heat, like a heating pad. This can help loosen up stiff muscles and increase range of motion. Massage is another popular method for reducing tension in the groin muscles while recovering from a pull or tear.
Management and Treatment
You can treat most groin strains at home using the RICE method: Rest: Stop the physical activity that caused the strain to avoid further damaging your muscle. Ice: Apply an ice pack or cold compress for 10 to 15 minutes every hour for the first day after your injury.
Rest and protect your injured or sore groin area for 1 to 2 weeks. Stop, change, or take a break from any activity that may be causing your pain or soreness. Do not do intense activities while you still have pain. Put ice or a cold pack on your groin area for 10 to 20 minutes at a time.
Take a store-bought pain reliever such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) or acetaminophen (Tylenol, others). Place an ice pack or bag of frozen peas wrapped in a thin towel on the sore area for 10 minutes 3 to 4 times a day. Take a break from any athletic activities that you do.
What can you do to help your groin pain? In the first 48 hours it may be useful to: Rest: Avoid aggravating activities and overstretching your muscles. Usually after 48 hours you can gently start completing some range of movement exercises and gentle strengthening as your pain allows.
Do not use Deep Heat Heat Rub on: children under 5 years of age ⚫ your eyes or other sensitive areas. If this occurs accidentally wash away with plenty of clean water broken or inflamed skin. Deep Heat Heat Rub is only for use on the skin. Do not take by mouth.
Seek immediate medical attention if you have: Groin pain along with back, stomach or chest pain. Sudden, serious testicle pain. Testicle pain and swelling along with nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, unexplained weight loss, or blood in the urine.
Groin pain that comes from the hip typically develops slowly over time without a specific injury or trauma. It is worse when the hip is flexed, for example, while sitting in a low chair or while driving. Over time people with groin pain may notice some stiffness and decreased motion in their hip.
Sleeping on your back with a pillow under your knees can help alleviate pelvic pain by taking pressure off of your lower back and hips. This position also helps to keep your spine in a neutral position, reducing strain on your pelvic muscles.
Rest the area by avoiding walking or any activity that causes pain. Crutches may be recommended to reduce further strain on the muscles when walking. Apply ice packs to the area for 15 to 20 minutes every 2 hours. Compress the area with an elastic bandage wrap.
The most common cause of groin pain is a muscle, tendon or ligament strain. The risk of these injuries is higher in athletes who play sports such as hockey, soccer and football. Groin pain might happen right after an injury. Or the pain might come on slowly over weeks or even months.
Several conditions can be mistaken for a pulled groin, including hip flexor strain, inguinal hernia, hip labral tear, and sciatica. Groin pain can be linked to issues involving the hips, pelvis, nerves or something else.
Not to be used when asleep or with prolonged pressure against the patch. Not to be used in infants, children or persons unable to remove the patch on their own. Do not use with other skin medications or other heat sources, if the patch is damaged or torn or for more than 8 hours in any 24 hour period.
Moreover, local hot compresses can promote blood circulation, eliminate local blood and body fluid retention, and reduce congestion and swelling, thereby reducing the pain caused by nerve compression (Petrofsky et al., 2013).
During the rehab of both acute and chronic groin strain, physical therapy is integral to optimal recovery. Remedial massage releases tension in the muscle, reduces swelling, relaxes muscle spasms, stimulates blood circulation and realigns the muscle fibres to promote healing.
Common causes of groin pain include: Pulled muscle, tendon, or ligaments in the leg -- This problem often occurs in people who play sports such as hockey, soccer, and football. This condition is sometimes called "sports hernia" although the name is misleading since it is not an actual hernia.
The best position I know is turned half on your stomach with your bottom leg fully extended, bottom arm behind you, and your other knee drawn up. At least one hip is straight and the hip is more open on the bent leg. If you have to sleep on your side, put a pillow between your knees to keep your thighs separated.
Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril, Fexmid, Amrix)
Options include terbinafine, clotrimazole, miconazole, or econazole cream. Treatment with a topical antifungal cream may be repeated in the future if there is a good response to topical treatment and there are recurrent episodes of mild, non-extensive disease.