Groin Injuries in Finnish Contact Sports: Prospective 2-year Clinical and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

The prevalence of chronic groin pain in athletes and physically active adults is between 5 and 10 %. Common causes include adductor tendonitis, musculus rectus abdominis tendopathy, osteitis pubis (edema on MRI scans at pubic symphysis) or disruption of the posterior wall of inguinal canal or iliopsoas muscle. This observational case-control study follows three contact sports team (male soccer, ice-hockey and bandy) for two years to find out prevalence of acute and chronic groin pain. Adult (>18 years old) male athletes with acute or chronic groin pain during the study pediod are included. Outcome measures are clinical examination, pain scores, exact diagnosis and repeated pelvic MRI (two times) are performed in each patients and three control atheletes in each team. Hip and groin questionnaire (HAGOS) is used to determine the severity of groin injuries. The end-points of study are prevalence of groin injuries and exact diagnosis.