Groin Injuries in Soccer: Why Strong Adductors Are Your Best Defense

Soccer’s most predictable injury

Groin injuries are among the most common injuries in soccer at every level, from youth leagues to the pros — and adductor strains make up the biggest share of them. It’s not bad luck; it’s the sport’s job description. Every kick, cut, and change of direction loads the adductors — the muscles running along your inner thigh — and soccer asks for thousands of those movements per season.

Two things make groin injuries especially frustrating:

• They linger. A “minor” groin strain that gets played through often turns into a nagging, months-long problem.
• They come back. A previous groin injury is one of the strongest predictors of the next one — because the original strength deficit usually never got fixed.

The evidence: stronger adductors, fewer injuries

Weak adductors — specifically, low adduction strength relative to abduction strength — show up over and over in research as a key risk factor for groin injury. The encouraging part: this risk factor is trainable.

A landmark randomized trial in semi-professional soccer players found that adding one simple adductor-strengthening exercise to the team’s routine reduced groin problems by roughly 40 percent. One exercise. No equipment beyond a teammate or a bench.

That exercise is the Copenhagen plank (also called the Copenhagen adduction exercise) — and it’s one of many we prescribe, but it’s the one we come back to most.

The Copenhagen plank

Think of it as a side plank with a promotion. Instead of stacking your feet on the floor, your top leg is supported — on a bench, a chair, or a partner’s hands — and your body hangs from it. Holding your hips up from that position makes the inner thigh of the top leg work ferociously, exactly the way soccer loads it.

Level 1 — short lever (start here):

1. Lie on your side, forearm under your shoulder, with the knee of your top leg resting on a bench.
2. Lift your hips and bottom leg off the floor until your body forms a straight line.
3. Hold for a few seconds, lower with control. Start with 2–3 sets of 5–6 reps per side, a couple of times per week.

Level 2 — long lever: same setup, but with the foot (not the knee) on the bench. Significantly harder.

Level 3 — dynamic: from the long-lever position, lower and raise the bottom leg, or add slow hip dips.

Form cues we give in the clinic:

• Straight line from shoulder to ankle — no sagging or piking at the hips.
• Shoulder stacked over the elbow.
• You should feel the inner thigh of the top leg working hard. Some deep soreness after the first sessions is normal — this exercise humbles fit athletes.

Ease in. The most common mistake is doing too much, too soon, in-season. Start at level 1 with low reps, progress over weeks, and keep it in your routine year-round — the study that made this exercise famous used a gradual 8-week build for a reason.

When it’s more than soreness

Strengthening prevents groin injuries; it doesn’t treat all of them. Get evaluated instead of pushing through if you have:

• Sharp pain with kicking, sprinting, or cutting
• Groin pain that’s lasted more than a couple of weeks
• Pain that keeps returning every time you ramp up play
• Any pop, bruising, or pain that changes how you run

Recurring groin pain can also involve the hip joint, abdominal wall, or low back — which is why a proper evaluation matters more than another week of rest.

The local angle

We treat soccer players from clubs and schools across Haslett, East Lansing, Okemos, Williamston, Bath, and DeWitt — both injury rehabilitation (typically covered by insurance with a referral) and athletic development in the Performance Lab, where adductor strength is built into every field-sport athlete’s program.

This article is general education, not individual medical advice. If you’re dealing with pain now, get evaluated — Michigan allows direct access to physical therapy, no referral needed to start.