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Published on: September 7, 2022
Delayed onset of transversus abdominus in long-standing groin pain
Sallie M Cowan1, Anthony G Schache, Peter Brukner
1The Centre for Sports Medicine and Research and Education, School of Physiotherapy, The University of Melbourne, 200 Berkeley St., Carlton, Vix, 3010, Australia. s.cowan@unimelb.edu.au
Unlabelled:
Long-standing groin pain is a persistent problem that is commonly difficult to rehabilitate. Theoretical rationale indicates a relationship between the motor control of the pelvis and long-standing groin pain; however, this link has not been investigated.
Purpose:
The current experiment aimed to evaluate motor control of the abdominal muscles in a group of Australian football players with and without long-standing groin pain.
Methods:
Ten participants with long-standing groin pain and 12 asymptomatic controls were recruited for the study. Participants were elite or subelite Australian football players. Fine-wire and surface electromyography electrodes were used to record the activity of the selected abdominal and leg muscles during a visual choice reaction-time task (active straight leg raising).
Results:
When the asymptomatic controls completed the active straight leg raise (ASLR) task, the transversus abdominus contracted in a feed-forward manner. However, when individuals with long-standing groin pain completed the ASLR task, the onset of transversus abdominus was delayed (P < 0.05) compared with the control group. There were no differences between groups for the onset of activity of internal oblique, external oblique, and rectus abdominus (all P > 0.05).
Conclusions:
The finding that the onset of transversus abdominus is delayed in individuals with long-standing groin pain is important, as it demonstrates an association between long-standing groin pain and transversus abdominus activation.
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