Groin Pain: Causes, Exercises and When to Worry

Where in the groin it hurts, and what that narrows down

The groin is the crease where the front of your thigh meets your trunk, and a lot of anatomy is packed into that small space. High on the inner thigh are the adductor muscles, running up to the pubic bone. The ball and socket of the hip sits behind the crease and slightly to the outside of it. The inguinal canal passes through the crease itself, which is where a hernia can push out. Nerves from the lower back cross the area on their way into the leg, so pain felt here sometimes starts somewhere else.

With that much packed in, how sore it feels tells you very little. What tells you more is when it started, which movement brings it on, and whether there is anything to see or feel. A groin that complains the moment you press the top of the inner thigh behaves nothing like one that hurts deep inside when you pull your knee toward your chest. Work through the sections below, find the group your pain sits in, and take that to an appointment instead of settling on an answer at home.

Why your groin hurts when you walk, run, lift your leg or cough

One movement usually stands out. Write it down before you see anyone, because these four load four different structures.

Walking. Your full weight lands on one hip at a time, thousands of times a day. Pain that builds after some minutes on your feet, sits deep in the front and quietens once you sit down fits the joint. OrthoInfo puts groin pain at the top of the hip osteoarthritis symptom list, and says it can spread out to the buttock or the knee. Hip pain when walking goes through the walking pattern in more detail.
Running and kicking. Both pull hard on the adductors where they anchor to the pubic bone, and they load the bone underneath as well. Pain that arrived in one stride or one kick points at the muscle. Pain that crept up over weeks of extra mileage, and now hurts on ordinary walking, can point to stress in the bone and needs checking the same day, as in the warning signs below.
Lifting your leg, swinging it out of a car, turning over in bed. That is the hip flexor at the front of the hip working, and the hip joint rotating. The Doha agreement calls the hip flexor version iliopsoas-related groin pain (Weir and colleagues, 2015).
Coughing, sneezing, straining or sitting up quickly. All of these raise the pressure inside your abdomen and push it against the groin wall. A bulge that appears with a cough and goes down when you lie flat is the hernia description the NHS gives.

What causes groin pain?

A list will not tell you which one you have, and two of them can share one groin. What follows is roughly the order a physio or doctor thinks in, with the details that usually go with each one.

The inner thigh muscles

The adductors run from the pubic bone down the inside of the thigh and pull the leg in toward the other one. You load them every time you kick, cut sideways or push off, which is why sport produces most of these injuries. The Doha agreement, written by 24 experts from 14 countries, defines adductor-related groin pain by two findings: the adductors are tender to press, and it hurts to squeeze the legs together against resistance (Weir and colleagues, 2015). A strain announces itself in a single moment, while the long-standing version builds up quietly and is often months old before anyone examines it. The groin strain program covers both, in stages.

The pubic bone at the front of the pelvis

The two halves of the pelvis meet at a small joint at the front, the pubic symphysis, and the inner thigh and abdominal muscles pull on the bone either side of it. The Doha group defines pubic-related groin pain by tenderness right over that joint and the bone next to it, and it found no resistance test that picks this one out on its own (Weir and colleagues, 2015). It turns up in kicking and side-stepping sports. More often than not it sits alongside adductor-related pain rather than instead of it.

The hip joint

Joint pain is usually deeper, harder to pin down with one finger, and unbothered by squeezing your knees together. OrthoInfo describes hip osteoarthritis pain as most often in the groin, with stiffness that makes walking and bending difficult, a reduced range of motion that can leave you limping, and pain that flares with vigorous activity and, over time, can arrive at rest or at night as well. Hip pain at night takes that last pattern further. NICE puts the diagnostic threshold at age 45 with activity-related joint pain, plus morning stiffness of half an hour or less, or none at all, and says no scan is needed to reach it (NG226).

In younger and middle-aged active adults, the shape of the joint and the cartilage rim around the socket come into it. The Warwick Agreement describes hip impingement syndrome as motion-related or position-related pain in the hip or groin, which may come with clicking, catching, locking, stiffness, restricted movement or giving way, and says the diagnosis needs symptoms, clinical signs and imaging findings together rather than any one of them (Griffin and colleagues, 2016). An international research network gathers impingement, dysplasia and instability, and labral and cartilage problems under one heading of hip-related pain for this age group (Reiman and colleagues, 2020). The hip osteoarthritis, hip impingement and hip labral tear programs cover each of those.

The hip flexor at the front

Pain right at the front of the hip, brought on by lifting the knee or by kicking, and sore when you resist that movement, fits the deep hip flexor. The Doha group lists it as iliopsoas-related groin pain and treats it as a separate entity from the adductors, although the two often overlap (Weir and colleagues, 2015). A sharp pull felt there during a sprint or a kick belongs with the hip flexor strain program.

A hernia, with or without a lump

What the NHS asks you to look for is a bulge or lump where your legs join your abdomen, in the upper thigh or on the tummy. It tends to swell when you cough, sneeze or cry and to shrink when you lie down, and a femoral or inguinal hernia can also make the leg feel heavy or dragging. Anything you can feel belongs to a doctor, not to an exercise program.

Some groin pain in athletes sits just above the crease with nothing to feel at all. OrthoInfo uses the term sports hernia, or athletic pubalgia, for groin pain that was severe at the moment of injury, settled, and then came back on returning to sport, with twisting movements the usual trigger and no visible bulge to find. The Doha group agreed on inguinal-related groin pain as the name for pain in this area, defined as pain and tenderness in the inguinal canal with no hernia that can be felt. It chose groin pain in athletes as the umbrella term ahead of athletic pubalgia and the other labels in circulation, because the mix of names was adding confusion (Weir and colleagues, 2015). Either way, this one is sorted out by examination.

Bone

A stress fracture in the neck of the thighbone is uncommon and easy to miss, and missing it is costly. The picture is a gradual onset of exertional groin pain in a runner or a military recruit, with pain at the extremes of hip movement. Clough (2002) asks clinicians to suspect it early and review these patients regularly, to stop the stress fracture progressing to a displaced fracture, which significantly worsens the long-term outcome. New groin pain after a fall in an older person, or in anyone with thin bones, sits in the same bracket. Both have their own warning signs below, with their own timings.

Referred pain from the back and the sacroiliac joint

Nerves from the lumbar spine can deliver pain to the front of the hip and groin, and so can the sacroiliac joint at the back of the pelvis. Among 50 patients whose sacroiliac joint pain was confirmed by an injection into the joint, 7 of them, 14%, described groin pain as part of their picture (Slipman and colleagues, 2000).

Sciatica is the other one to know about. In the NHS description the pain sits in the bottom and travels down one leg, reaching the foot and toes, and it burns, tingles, goes numb or feels weak, with movement, sneezing and coughing all able to make it worse. Say it out loud at the appointment if your pain reaches below the knee or brings numbness or tingling with it, because that sends the examination in a different direction. The sciatica and sacroiliac joint pain programs cover those two.

The testicles, bladder, bowel and pelvic organs

Not everything in this area is a muscle or a joint. The NHS names an inguinal hernia, and problems with the testicles or the prostate, among the causes of pain here in men, and period pain, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, pregnancy-related pain and pelvic inflammatory disease among the causes in women. Testicle pain carries strict rules of its own, and the emergency and same-day lines below are taken from the NHS advice on it. Groin pain that arrives alongside a change in peeing, bowel habits, periods or vaginal discharge, or with a fever, goes to a doctor rather than into a rehab program.

If you are pregnant

Groin and pelvic pain in pregnancy is common, and it is assessed and treated differently, so this page gives no advice on it. The pregnancy back and pelvic pain program is the right place to read, with your own midwife, doctor or maternity physio leading what you do. If you are pregnant, check with your midwife or physio before you start.

After a hip replacement

OrthoInfo says some discomfort with activity and at night is usual for several weeks after a total hip replacement. What lies behind groin pain in an operated hip depends on the operation you had, so it is a question for the surgeon and the team who did it, and their instructions come before anything written here. The total hip replacement rehab program sets out the usual stages. Contact that team the same day, rather than waiting for a routine appointment, if the pain is new or getting worse quickly, if the wound turns red, hot or starts leaking, if you develop a fever, or if your calf becomes swollen, warm or tender.

What helps at home

Take out the one thing that provokes it rather than stopping everything. Most groins put up with walking on the flat long before they put up with kicking, sprinting, wide sideways steps or climbing out of a low car seat. Keep moving inside what does not flare it. A groin that is rested completely stiffens and loses strength, and both make the way back longer.

For an angry few days the NHS suggests an ice pack wrapped in a towel, held on for up to 20 minutes and repeated every 2 to 3 hours. Its other suggestions for hip pain are paracetamol (acetaminophen) or an ibuprofen gel, shock-absorbing shoes with a soft sole, and keeping out of low seats. A pharmacist can tell you which painkiller suits you and the other medicines you take.

Go easy on stretching early on. The program that worked in the Holmich trial for long-standing adductor-related groin pain was built on the strength and coordination of the muscles acting on the pelvis rather than on stretching (Holmich and colleagues, 1999). A gentle stretch that feels pleasant is not a problem. Hauling a painful inner thigh into a deep stretch in the first weeks is not the way back.

Judge it the next morning, not in the moment. A working ache during the exercises is expected and usually fine. A groin that is sorer when you wake up, or that leaves you limping, was given too much, and the answer is to go back a step rather than push harder.

Exercises for groin pain

Sort out the cause first, because the plan differs for each one. The strongest evidence sits with the adductors. In a Danish trial, 68 athletes whose adductor-related groin pain had lasted a median of 40 weeks were randomly assigned either to an 8 to 12 week active training program aimed at the strength and coordination of the muscles around the pelvis, or to physiotherapy without active training. Four months after treatment, 23 of the training group were back at their sport at the same level without groin pain, against 4 in the comparison group (Holmich and colleagues, 1999). For hip osteoarthritis, NICE recommends offering therapeutic exercise to everyone with the condition, tailored to them, and tells clinicians to warn people that joint pain can rise when the exercise starts (NG226).

The six below are the starting points most adductor programs use, running from holds that keep the hip still, through movement, to length. They suit an ordinary sore groin while you wait for an assessment. They are not a return-to-sport plan on their own: running, changing direction and kicking come back in stages after these, and the groin strain program sets out that order.

Take them in order. Begin with the two squeeze holds and the glute bridge, add side lying hip adduction and the clamshell once you walk normally and a firm squeeze no longer hurts, and keep the half kneeling adductor stretch for last, going only to a gentle pull and never into pain. That is the order the groin strain program uses, where stretching waits until the second stage. If the sore spot sits deep in the front of the hip rather than high on the inner thigh, stay out of any position that pinches there, and let the stretch stop at that point.

Drop any of them that produces sharp groin pain while you do it or in the hours afterward. If you have had a hip replacement, get the go-ahead from your surgeon or physio before you try the adductor ball squeeze, the side lying isometric hip adduction, side lying hip adduction, the glute bridge, the clamshell or the half kneeling adductor stretch. Some operations limit this kind of work for the first months, so the timing depends on your surgery. If you are pregnant, check with your midwife or physio before you start. The adductor ball squeeze and the glute bridge are done lying on your back, and if you are pregnant and past the first three months, check with your physio before exercising flat on your back.

Exercises that can help

The two holds start at 5 to 10 seconds, repeated 5 to 10 times, once or twice a day. Side lying hip adduction and the clamshell usually start at 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 on each side, the glute bridge at 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12, and the adductor stretch is held 20 to 30 seconds and repeated 2 to 3 times on each side. Your physio will adjust this.

If the sore spot turns out to be the bony point on the outside of the hip rather than the groin, outer hip pain is the page that fits.

When to see a physio (physical therapist)

Book an assessment if the groin has not improved after a couple of weeks of looking after it yourself, if it keeps coming back, if it is disturbing your sleep or your work, or if you have no idea what set it off. The NHS uses 2 weeks of self-care as the point to get hip pain looked at. Go sooner if your sport involves kicking or sprinting, since the steps back to that matter as much as the early treatment.

An assessment is mostly about narrowing the field. A physical therapist will press along the adductors and the pubic bone, test a resisted squeeze, take the hip through its range with rotation, check your back and sacroiliac joint, and look for anything that does not belong to muscles and joints at all. The Doha group agreed that pain from the hip joint should always be considered as a possible cause of groin pain, so expect the hip to be examined even when the inner thigh is the sore part (Weir and colleagues, 2015). If the examination points toward a hernia, a testicle or a pelvic organ, the next stop is a doctor.

A few groin problems cannot wait for any of that. The list below is sorted by how fast to act, and the timing on each line is the part to follow.

Related exercise programs

See a doctor promptly if

Emergency: sudden, severe pain in a testicle, testicle pain that comes with feeling sick, being sick or pain in your tummy, or testicle pain that has lasted more than an hour or carries on while you rest. Go to an emergency department straight away or call emergency services. The testicle may have twisted (testicular torsion), which needs treatment quickly.
Emergency: you have had a fall or an injury and now have severe hip pain, or you cannot walk or put weight on the leg. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department. This can be a sign of a broken hip (hip fracture).
Emergency: tingling or loss of feeling in the hip or leg after a fall or injury. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department.
Emergency: pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in both legs, numbness or altered feeling around your genitals or bottom, or new trouble peeing or controlling your bladder or bowels. The same applies if you lose feeling in one leg. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. These can be signs of pressure on the nerves at the base of the spine (cauda equina syndrome).
Emergency: your foot or leg suddenly turns cold, pale or blue, or suddenly becomes very painful, numb or weak, even while you are resting. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. This can be a sign that the blood supply to the leg is blocked, which needs treatment at once.
Emergency: pain in your lower tummy or pelvis that is severe, is getting worse, or hurts when you move or touch the area, or that comes with feeling faint, dizzy or lightheaded, passing out, pain at the tip of your shoulder, trouble breathing, heavy bleeding from the vagina, or sudden confusion. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. Tell them if there is any chance you are pregnant.
Same day: a lump or bulge in your groin or upper thigh has become painful or tender, or you have a groin lump and a bloated tummy, you feel or are being sick, you are constipated, or you have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery. This can be a hernia that has become trapped. Get medical help straight away, the same day, for example at urgent care or an emergency department. If the pain is severe or came on suddenly, you cannot poo or pass wind at all, you are vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, or you have suddenly become confused, call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away.
Same day: aching or discomfort in a testicle that worries you, a lump or swelling in a testicle, a change in its shape or in how it feels, or one testicle that has become bigger than the other. Get an urgent appointment with your doctor the same day.
Same day: groin pain that built up with running, marching or jumping, often after you increased your training, and now hurts when you walk, makes you limp, or aches at rest or at night. Stop running and jumping and keep walking to a minimum until it has been checked. Get medical advice the same day and mention your training. If you cannot put weight on the leg, go to an emergency department. This can be a stress fracture in the neck of the thighbone (femoral neck stress fracture), which is easy to miss at first and can become a full break if you keep loading it.
Same day: new hip or groin pain after a fall, even a small one, if you are older, have low bone density (osteoporosis) or have taken steroid tablets for a long time, even if you can still walk. Get medical advice the same day. A broken hip is not always obvious at first.
Same day: you felt a pop or snap in the groin or inner thigh and now have large bruising spreading down the inner thigh, a dip or gap you can feel in the muscle, or you cannot squeeze your knees together at all. Get assessed the same day, for example at an urgent care center, and ask whether you need a scan. The muscle may be badly torn or pulled away from the bone, which takes much longer to recover and needs its own plan.
Same day: the groin or inner thigh is very painful or the pain is getting worse, the bruising or swelling is large or growing, you cannot walk more than a few steps, or the leg feels very stiff and hard to move. Get medical advice the same day.
Same day: the hip or groin is hot and swollen, the skin around it has changed color, or you have groin pain with a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery. Get medical help the same day, and go to an emergency department if you feel very unwell. An infection in the joint or bone needs treatment quickly.
Same day: groin or lower tummy pain together with trouble peeing or pooing, pain when you pee or needing to pee more often than usual, blood in your pee or poo, unusual vaginal discharge or bleeding, a high temperature or feeling hot, cold or shivery, or feeling or being sick. Get medical advice the same day. Pain in this area can come from the bladder, the bowel or the reproductive organs rather than from a muscle or a joint.
Same day: lower tummy or pelvic pain and you are pregnant or think you might be. Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away if you are pregnant, or get medical advice the same day if you might be. Pain low in the tummy early in pregnancy needs checking, because a pregnancy can grow outside the womb (ectopic pregnancy).
Same day: severe hip or groin pain that came on suddenly without a fall or injury, or pain that is getting worse quickly over a few days. Get medical advice the same day.
Same day: a calf or thigh that is newly swollen, warm, tender, red or darker than usual, has swollen veins that are sore to touch, or has a throbbing or cramping pain that does not fit your injury or condition, or that feels different from normal muscle soreness after exercise. This can be a sign of a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis), especially after surgery, an injury, time in a cast or boot, a long trip or a spell of being much less mobile than usual. Get medical advice the same day. If you are also short of breath or have chest pain, call emergency services.
Same day: a leg or foot that is getting weaker, for example your foot drags, catches on the ground or slaps down when you walk (foot drop). Get medical advice the same day. If the weakness is getting worse by the hour, go to an emergency department.
Same day: a child or teenager has sudden pain in the hip, thigh or knee, is limping, or cannot put weight on one leg. Get an urgent appointment with a doctor the same day. If they have a high temperature or seem very unwell, go to an emergency department. This page is for adults, and hip pain in children has different causes.
Within a few days: hip or groin pain that is worse at night or does not ease with rest, and keeps getting worse. See your doctor within a few days. If you have had cancer, now or in the past, or are losing weight without trying, see your doctor sooner, within a day or two, and mention it. This applies even if the pain is not getting worse. If you are being treated for cancer now, contact your cancer team the same day.
Within a few days: new groin or hip pain and you take steroid tablets long term, or have in the past, or you regularly drink a lot of alcohol. This can be a sign of a problem with the blood supply to the top of the thighbone (avascular necrosis). Book an appointment with your doctor within a few days and mention the steroids or alcohol.
Within 2 weeks: a lump in your groin or upper thigh that is not painful, especially one that gets bigger when you cough or sneeze and smaller when you lie down. This can be a hernia. Book an appointment with your doctor.
Within 2 weeks: groin or lower tummy pain that keeps coming back or does not go away, or that comes with bloating that does not settle, feeling full very quickly when you eat, losing your appetite, or a lasting change in your bowel habits. Book an appointment with your doctor.
Within 2 weeks: pain that spreads down the leg below the knee, especially with numbness or tingling in the leg or foot. The pain may be coming from your lower back rather than the groin. Book an appointment with a doctor or physio.
Within 2 weeks: groin pain that came on slowly without a clear injury, or sits deep in the groin with clicking, catching or locking of the hip. Book an appointment with a physio or doctor. Groin pain has several possible causes, including the hip joint itself.

Common questions

What causes groin pain in women and in men?

Most of the common causes are shared, and sex makes a difference only at the edges of the list: the inner thigh muscles where they attach to the pubic bone, the hip joint, a hernia in the groin crease, and pain referred from the lower back or the sacroiliac joint. For men, the NHS names an inguinal hernia and problems with the testicles or the prostate among the reasons for pain in this area. For women it names period pain, ovarian cysts, endometriosis and pregnancy-related pelvic pain, with pelvic inflammatory disease, an ectopic pregnancy and cancer of the ovary or womb listed as rarer but more serious causes. It asks people to get advice the same day if the pain comes with a fever, sickness, blood in the pee or poo, unusual vaginal discharge or trouble peeing. A physio can examine the muscles, the hip and the back, and will pass you to a doctor when the pattern fits one of these causes.

Is my groin pain coming from the hip joint or from a muscle?

Muscle pain usually has a moment attached to it, such as a kick, a sprint or a wide step, and afterward the top of the inner thigh is tender to press and squeezing your knees together hurts. The Doha agreement defines adductor-related groin pain by those two findings, tenderness of the adductors and pain when you squeeze against resistance (Weir and colleagues, 2015). Joint pain tends to build without a single incident, sits deeper and harder to point at, and is brought on by bending the hip up and turning it inward, sometimes with clicking, catching, locking or a sense of the hip giving way (Griffin and colleagues, 2016). Stiffness that makes socks and shoes awkward pushes the odds further toward the joint. Both can be present at once, which is why the Doha group agreed that pain from the hip joint is always considered as a possible source.

Can groin pain be a hernia?

It can. The NHS describes a hernia as a bulge or lump where your legs join your abdomen, in the upper thigh or on the tummy, which may get bigger when you cough, sneeze or cry and smaller when you lie down, sometimes with a heavy, dragging feeling in the leg. Not every problem of this kind gives you a lump to find. OrthoInfo describes a sports hernia, also called athletic pubalgia, as severe groin pain at the time of the injury that settles and then returns with sport, especially twisting, and it says this injury does not produce the visible bulge an inguinal hernia does. Anything you can feel needs a doctor rather than an exercise program, and a lump that turns painful or tender needs help the same day. Both levels are set out in the warning signs on this page.

Can groin pain cause testicle pain?

Pain around the groin and pain in a testicle often turn up together, and which is causing which is not something to work out at home. The NHS lists an inguinal hernia among the causes of testicle pain, along with infection, injury, a cyst, enlarged veins and a twisted testicle. What matters here is the urgency rather than the label: sudden severe pain in a testicle, testicle pain with sickness or tummy pain, or testicle pain that has lasted more than an hour or carries on at rest is an emergency. An ache that worries you, a lump, swelling or a change in shape needs an urgent same-day appointment with a doctor. No exercise program is the answer to either of those.

Is groin pain serious, and can it be a blood clot or cancer?

Most groin pain comes from muscles, tendons or the hip joint and is not dangerous, but a short list of causes is, which is why every warning sign on this page carries a timing. A blood clot in the leg shows itself mainly in the calf or thigh, as a throbbing pain with swelling, swollen veins or skin that looks red, blue or darker than usual, rather than as groin pain on its own, and the NHS adds that a clot in a pelvic vein can rarely show up only as pain low in the tummy. Any one of those signs needs advice the same day. Cancer is an uncommon cause of hip and groin pain, and the pattern that raises the question is pain that is worse at night or at rest and keeps getting worse, which matters more if you have had cancer before or are losing weight without trying. Pain that has behaved the same way for weeks, and that flares with one particular movement, sits at the other end of that range.

When should I see a doctor for groin pain, and which one?

A physio or your family doctor is the sensible first stop for pain that started in sport, builds with activity, or is tied to a movement, because that covers the muscle, tendon and joint causes. Go to a doctor first if you can feel a lump, if a testicle is involved, if the pain comes with anything to do with peeing, periods or your bowels, or if you have a fever. The NHS suggests getting hip pain checked if it has not improved after treating it at home for 2 weeks, and sooner if it is stopping you doing everyday things. An emergency department is the right place for the emergency signs listed on this page, including severe pain or an inability to put weight on the leg after a fall.

References

Weir A, Brukner P, Delahunt E, et al. Doha agreement meeting on terminology and definitions in groin pain in athletes. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2015;49(12):768-774. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-094869
Holmich P, Uhrskou P, Ulnits L, Kanstrup IL, Nielsen MB, Bjerg AM, Krogsgaard K. Effectiveness of active physical training as treatment for long-standing adductor-related groin pain in athletes: randomised trial. The Lancet. 1999;353(9151):439-443. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(98)03340-6
Griffin DR, Dickenson EJ, O'Donnell J, et al. The Warwick Agreement on femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAI syndrome): an international consensus statement. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2016;50(19):1169-1176. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2016-096743
Reiman MP, Agricola R, Kemp JL, et al. Consensus recommendations on the classification, definition and diagnostic criteria of hip-related pain in young and middle-aged active adults from the International Hip-related Pain Research Network, Zurich 2018. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2020;54(11):631-641. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-101453
Slipman CW, Jackson HB, Lipetz JS, Chan KT, Lenrow D, Vresilovic EJ. Sacroiliac joint pain referral zones. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2000;81(3):334-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-9993(00)90080-7
Clough TM. Femoral neck stress fracture: the importance of clinical suspicion and early review. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2002;36(4):308-309. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.36.4.308
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Osteoarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management (NG226). 2022. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng226
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Osteoarthritis of the hip. OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/diseases--conditions/osteoarthritis-of-the-hip/
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Sports hernia (athletic pubalgia). OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/diseases--conditions/sports-hernia-athletic-pubalgia/
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Total hip replacement. OrthoInfo. https://www.orthoinfo.org/en/treatment/total-hip-replacement/
NHS. Hernia. Page last reviewed 19 May 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hernia/
NHS. Testicle pain. Page last reviewed 26 June 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/symptoms/testicle-pain/
NHS. Pelvic pain. Page last reviewed 24 November 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pelvic-pain/
NHS. Hip pain in adults. Page last reviewed 20 November 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/symptoms/hip-pain/
NHS. Sciatica. Page last reviewed 3 December 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sciatica/
NHS. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Page last reviewed 30 April 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/deep-vein-thrombosis-dvt/
NHS. Pelvic pain in pregnancy. https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/related-conditions/common-symptoms/pelvic-pain/

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-30.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.

Groin pain: causes, what helps and when to get it checked