Groin Click

[DenghisCon]

41 yo male. I started training in earnest about 15 months ago, and have been consistently squatting since with occasional weeks off. Early (first or second month) in my programming, I had a lot of difficulty with a very sharp pain in the right side of my groin in what I assume was either my adductor longus or gracilis at the pelvic bone. The pain was always on the way down in the squat, and only with warm up weights. Driving up or heavier weights did not irritate it. We backed off for a while, and over time the pain eased and is no longer an issue at all. I just assumed it was typical of the adductor pain a lot of novice liffters seem to experience.

Now, however, when sitting (desk, couch, toilet) I often feel a very sharp, pinpoint pain in my right groin when I spread my knees out. It is accompanied by an impingement in the outward movement of my right leg, until it "clicks" and then the pain is gone and I have a normal range of motion.

It is no big deal, just a minor annoyance and a new addition to life's aches and pains, but I am curious if you might have an opinion on what it may be. I recently took two weeks off from lifting to sit in the sun and drink beer, and the time away from the gym increased the frequency and pain level of the incidents.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is one of those things you're just going to have to deal with yourself. You're not going to get a diagnosis from a doctor, and you're not going to quit training. Train either around it or through it, and damn the diagnosis.

[DenghisCon]

I was just curious if you had ever encountered a similar scenario. I was describing this to Jeremy F this evening. His working theory is that when my groin was hurting during lifts, maybe I had a small muscle tear that is now marked by scar tissue and it is getting in the way as two muscles slide across each other in a specific position. Sounds like a fine diagnosis to me. Moving on...

[Mark Rippetoe]

Quite likely. A massage should reveal the accuracy of this assessment.

[Will Morris]

Clicking in your groin might be indicative of an acetabular labral tear....but, there may not be a whole lot that can be done about it. The evidence for success of labral repairs in the hip isn't real promising.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Hey, that's likely too! Maybe it should be checked by someone that is not typing on the internet.