Your hip flexors and quads
They lift the knee and drive the hip. Strong in most athletes. Often dominant, doing too much of the work. This is the anterior overload that drives the pinch at the front.
Hip & Groin Self-Assessment
Hip Or Groin Pain That Will Not Settle? Start Here.
You squat, and there is that pinch in the front of the hip again. Or you sprint, and something pulls in the inner thigh.
Here is what most athletes never get told. Hip and groin pain is rarely about weak muscles. We see athletes who have strengthened their hips for months and still hurt. The problem is not strength. It is that the muscles are not working together at the right time. More strength on top of bad timing is just more efficient chaos.
Your hip sits in the middle of a lot of moving parts. When they share the load and fire in the right order, the hip feels easy. When the front takes over and the glutes go quiet, the hip and groin carry stress they were never meant to hold.
The Basics
Meet The Team Around Your Hip
Keep this simple. A few key players decide how your hip feels.
Your adductors
They control the leg coming in and help stabilise the hip. When they cannot handle load, the groin takes the strain.
Your glutes and deep rotators
They share the load and control the hip through its full range. When they switch off, the front and the groin pick up the slack.
When these share the work, the hip feels effortless. When the front dominates and the glutes go quiet, that is when the pinch and the pull show up. Most of what you will do on this page is about getting the back and the side of the hip doing their share again.
Find Your Issue
Where Do You Actually Feel It?
Pick the one that fits you best. It points you to the right checks below.
01Check First
Deep pinch in the front
Worse in a deep squat, sitting a long time, or bringing your knee toward your chest.
Start with the pathology checks 02CoordinationPull in the inner thigh
The groin. Worse with sprinting, changing direction, or kicking.
Go to coordination 03CoordinationAche on the outside or the back
Often builds with running and load.
Go to coordination
Pathology Assessments
Hip & Groin Assessment: Signs You Need A Professional
Is It Something To Get Checked?
Before anything else, we rule out the things that need a professional eye. These checks do not diagnose anything. They tell you whether it is sensible to get it looked at before you load it.
The Hip Pinch And Groin Squeeze Checks
Two quick screens. One for the joint at the front, one for the groin. Go gently. If either reproduces your sharp pain, that is your signal to get it assessed before you load it.
- Hip pinch check. Lie on your back. Bring the sore side knee up toward your chest to about a right angle. Gently draw it across toward your opposite shoulder, then let the shin rotate out so the hip turns inward. Go slowly, do not force it.
- Groin squeeze check. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat. Put a fist or a rolled towel between your knees. Squeeze inward and hold for a few seconds.
Nothing sharp
No deep pinch and no sharp groin pull. A joint or adductor problem is less likely. Move on to the coordination checks.
Your pain reproduces
A deep pinch at the front points to the joint. A sharp inner thigh pull points to the adductors. Worth getting assessed before you load it. This is a screen, not a diagnosis.
The Red Flag Check
Some signs mean stop and get it looked at. Tick any of these and book an assessment.
- Deep hip pain that does not improve with rest.
- Sharp pinching, clicking, catching, or locking in the joint.
- Pain at rest or at night, or pain that is getting worse.
- You cannot bear weight properly, or there is swelling or bruising.
- Groin pain that keeps coming back every time load goes up.
- Pain that stops you training or performing.
A word on deep, worsening pain. Deep pain that gets worse, hurts at night, and stops you bearing weight can point to a bone stress issue rather than a muscle. That needs a prompt professional eye. Different thing entirely from a groin that is tight and tender after a hard session.
When in doubt, get it checked.
These checks are for peace of mind and understanding your body. They are not a diagnosis and they do not replace medical advice. If you have deep worsening pain, night pain, clicking and locking, or you cannot bear weight, stop training and see a doctor or physio.
If nothing above fits you, your hip or groin pain is far more likely muscular and about coordination. That is good news, and it is exactly what the next part is for.
Coordination Assessments
Is Your Body Sharing The Load?
No red flags? Then the question changes. It is not "what is damaged". It is "who has stopped doing their job". This check shows you whether the back of your chain is sharing the load, or leaving it all to the front of the hip.
The Midfoot Bridge Check
Start here. It tells you whether your posterior chain will accept load, or whether the front of the hip keeps taking over.
- Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat, weight on the balls of your feet.
- Lift your hips just an inch off the floor. That is all. Not a big bridge.
- Hold that tension through your midfoot and feel where the work is.
A good result
You feel the work in your hamstrings and deep in your calf. Your hips stay level. You can hold it without arching your lower back.
A poor result
The work dumps into your lower back, or into the front of your thighs. Your weight rolls back to your heels. Your hips drop or twist. This is the pattern that keeps loading your hip. It is also exactly what the drills below retrain.
Get The Basics Right
The Drills
These are the exact drills we use in our clinics to get the team around the hip working together again. Do them in order. Each phase earns the next. Keep everything pain free.
1
Isometrics
Wake it up.Hip Flexor Isometric Holds
Restores tension tolerance in the hip flexor at the ranges it actually works. That is why a tight feeling eases even though you never stretched it.
Cue. Sprinter position, front heel to a wall. Push your back knee and toes into the floor at about 45 degrees. Hold six seconds, then move the back knee further back.
2
Load Tolerance
Share the load.Anterior Hip Loading (Bilateral)
Loads the whole front line from feet to core as the hip extends, building control at the end ranges where the front of the hip gets pinched.
Cue. Laces on a box behind you, hands under your shoulders, elbows locked. Push through your toes to lift, lower the knees, then drive the hips through. Do not let it bite your lower back.
Anterior Hip Flexor Adductor Loading + Hip Shift
Adds the groin into the job. It loads the adductors and hip flexors in a lengthened position while you shift across them, which is exactly where the groin usually cannot produce force.
Cue. Feet wider than the hips, arms straight, shift toward the working side to load it.
Adductor Magnus Bridge with Hip Shift
Brings your inner hamstring and thigh back into the job of controlling the hip.
Cue. Keep an inch of clearance and hold pressure through the heel.
3
Deceleration Tolerance
Control it.Lateral Hip Loading with Kettlebell
Loads the side and back of the hip with a bit of rotation, building the control you need to decelerate and change direction.
Cue. Reach across, let the hip travel toward the corner of the room, and keep contact through the ball of your big toe even as your weight loads the heel.
Glute Medius RDLs
Takes lateral hip control into a hinge. Reaching across the body forces the deep rotators to work.
Cue. Do not let the knee bend further, keep pressure through the big toe, and drive the hip forward to stand.
Progress
Hip & Groin Pain Recovery: How To Know The Drills Are Working
The pinch at the front shows up less in squats, and after training.
You feel the work spread to the glutes and inner thigh, not just the front of the hip.
The movement starts to feel automatic. Less thinking, less monitoring.
You can load deeper and longer without the hip complaining.
When to progress
When a drill feels easy and clean, move to the next phase. Easy is the signal. If it still feels like a fight, stay where you are.
When to get help
If the pain is not settling after a couple of weeks of honest work, or any red flag from the pathology checks shows up, get it assessed.
Your Sport
Hip & Groin Pain By Sport: Hyrox, CrossFit, Running and Field and Court Sports
Hyrox and CrossFit
A high volume of deep squats and lunges, often without enough recovery. When the hip cannot share that load, we see the pinch at the front and impingement type symptoms.
Running and endurance
The same hip flexion, thousands of times. Impingement builds when the front is overloaded. Groin strains show up when the adductors have not kept pace with the mileage.
Field and court sports
Football, rugby, tennis. Sprinting, cutting and kicking. This is where groin strains bite, when the adductors cannot control the load at speed.
Next Step
Where To Go Next
01One To One
Book A ProSport Online Assessment
Want certainty, or ticked a red flag? We find the root cause with you, online or in person.
Book now 02RehabGo To The Rehab Drills
The full library of drills we use in clinic.
Open the library 03ReadHip Or Groin Pain, Impingement vs Strain
How to tell the joint from the muscle.
Read the article 04BrowseBack To All Body Parts
Something else bothering you? Pick another area from the full list.
All self-assessmentsYour hip is not fragile. It has been carrying work that belongs to the glutes and the groin. Give that work back, and it settles.