How to Prevent Hockey Related Hip Injuries

Hip injuries are a common hockey related injury.  Hockey players are predisposed to hip injury due to skating mechanics.  Injuries often seen are groin strains, hip flexor strains, hip impingement, or hip pointers.  Fortunately stretching and strengthening the core during the preseason, or even in season, can help reduce the injury risk.

What Are Common Hip Injuries in Hockey?

Hip injuries in hockey can be divided into two groups, overuse or structural.  Overuse injuries tend to be due to the highly repetitive nature of skating.  These include tendonitis, muscle strains and bursitis.  Symptoms typically are pain in hip or groin with skating, quick direction changes or squatting.

Structural injuries involve damage to the hip joint itself due to the extreme position of the hips when skating.  These injuries include hip labrum tears. The labrum is the ridge of cartilage that lines the hip socket to protect the joint.  Also, Femoracetabular Impingement, or FAI, is a common injury to the hip joint where extra bone grows on the outside of the joint itself.  Symptoms of structural injuries are painful catching or locking of the hip joint, painful sitting or squatting, and pain in the groin that worsens with activity.

What Can I Do to Help Prevent Hip Injuries in Hockey?

Fortunately, there are exercises that can help reduce the likelihood of hockey related hip injury. A study by Tyler et al. in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showed that a preseason hip and core strengthening program could help reduce the likelihood of hip injury in hockey players by 17X.  Here are just a couple of exercises you can try that will help reduce your risk of injury.

Dead Bug: 

The dead bug is an excellent exercise for hockey players.  It strengthens the anterior core, which will help protect the low back and hips.  It also works to get hockey players out of the excessive arch in the lower back, which is common with the skating position.  Be sure to keep your low back pressed flat against the floor and as you move the arms and legs reciprocally and breath normally.  Perform 10-20 repetitions each side for 1-2 sets.

Groin Stretch:

The muscles along the inside of the leg tend to get very tight in hockey players.  Stretching these muscles can be done with the half kneeling adductor stretch shown below.  With this stretch you can either rotate the leg that is out straight or keep the leg still and walk your hands forward and back, whichever feels better.  Find a spot where you are tight and hold for 10-15 seconds performing 6-8 times on each side.

Try these to help reduce your risk for injury this hockey season.  If you have any questions or would like to find out more contact Greg at gcrossman@completegamept.com or call Complete Game Physical Therapy at 978-710-7204.

The Complete Game blog is an educational resource written by Complete Game  employees. Complete Game bloggers are licensed professionals who abide by the code of ethics outlined by their respective professional associations. The content published in blog posts represents the opinion of the individual author based on their expertise and experience. The content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only, does not constitute medical advice, and should not be relied on for making personal health decisions.