Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Rehab - Adductor/Groin Strains

More than 1 year ago I had an adductor/Groin Strain. I am not even sure how I got it, but groin strains are part of playing sports where change of direction and quick acceleration and deceleration are common. Basketball, soccer, rugby etc.

As a fitness coach and sports performance coach in Singapore I deal with groin strains quite often.

The first thing about rehab is to train around the injury. NOT rest at home.

"Oh I'm injured, I'll lie in bed" is a wrong mindset for training with an injury. In general I recommend training stuff that does not hurt.

The limit is "dull pain for a few seconds after the exercise is over".

So sharp pain means stop immediately and so does dull pain that lasts a long time.

This recommendation helps blood flow to the area which boosts recovery, at the same time it is pretty sure not to re-injure that area.

Also, continuing training makes you feel empowered and it maintains strength in the rest of your body.

For adductor/groin strains, the exercises you choose should be of 2 kinds. As you can see in the video.

• Wide Stance
  
• Single Leg

Doing more of these also help prevent groin injuries (as well as a good warm-up and good movement mechanics).

Since then, my groin has been bullet proof! Yay!

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Rehab - Anterior Hip Pain

If this is you, read on!

I recently had a personal training client who was having pain in her hip. The pain comes at the top portion of a squat or dead lift movement.

Any time there is a pain in the front of the hip (anterior hip pain), don't forget to consider "femoral anterior glide syndrome" as a possible cause.

The pain seems to be at the front of the hip joint and does not seem to come from a muscle or ligament.

SOLUTION: Think about how the femur (thigh bone) is made secure in the hip socket. It is held tight and back in the socket by the function of the glute muscles. That means your buttocks have to work well to keep the bone in place.

So, during your warm up, do more glute activation (you can even do these between sets as I instructed my client to do) and during exercises like squats, lunges, or pulls, remember to focus on a contraction of the buttock muscles to keep the femur tight in the socket and avoid it slipping forward and causing pain. Go to my forum for some glute activation exercises you can do. (Check out the "quadruped hip extension" and the "cook hip lift")

Singapore Fitness Coach Talk: Back Pain a Reality

The research statistics are pretty scary. During our life we have about a 80% chance of having back pain. Sure its not a Singaporean study but I see no reason to think that we are different. After taking a look at some of the ways "real life" people I know in Singapore that have hurt their backs...it's something that we as personal trainers and fitness professionals MUST take note of and prevent. Here are some of the ways that people I know have been hurt.

1. Back pain after Sneezing (this one was a slipped disc that required long term medical care)
   
2. Back pain after helping an old lady carry her shipping.
   
3. Back pain while slipping on a moist badminton court
   
4. Back pain while helping a friend shift furniture

As usual I'm a "be a part of the solution" kind of guy, and actually I wrote a lot about core training to prevent back pain in my IPPT-Training website and all the exercises are demoed on my forum. Just sign up on the forum to take a look at all the videos under the "core" section of the exercise index.

Back pain is frustrating because it makes us feel old and immobile and i dare say helpless! It is only responsible for fitness and performance professionals to help people avoid it!