Abstract
BackgroundGroin pain is a very common injury in multidirectional sports such as soccer, ice hockey, rugby and Australian football. Long-standing adductor-related groin pain is a persistent clinical condition and a frequent complaint in athletes involved in sports that require multiplanar movement patterns (change of direction, high-speed sprinting and kicking). To date, the lack of rehabilitation guidelines and return-to-play criteria makes this clinical entity difficult to manage. The aim of the present Delphi was to suggest, based on opinion and practical experience of a panel of experts, potential criteria that could be taken into consideration by clinicians in the RTP decision-making process in athletes suffering from long-standing adductor-related groin pain.MethodsThirty two out of 40 experts participated to a 3-Round Delphi questionnaire. In round 1, open-ended and closed questions about 9 different sections (palpation, flexibility, strength, patient-reported outcome measures, imaging, intersegmental control, performance tests, sport-specific skills, training load) were proposed to investigate return to play evaluation criteria used by each expert. Responses were analysed and coded to produce round 2 questionnaire that investigated only the sections and the items that reached the cut-off value (≥ 70%). Round 3 questionnaire was based on sections and items that reached cut-off value in previous rounds and experts rated their agreement for return to play criteria with a 5-point Likert Scale. Descriptive statistics enabled interpretation of consensus.ResultsHigh participation rate (80%) and response rate across the 3 rounds (100%) were recorded. 6 sections reached positive consensus in round 1, 1 section reached negative consensus. In round 2 positive consensus was confirmed only for 3 sections and negative consensus for 1 section. In round 3, positive agreement was established for strength (3 items), performance tests (3 items) and sport-specific skills (2 items) sections. Negative consensus was confirmed for imaging section.ConclusionExperts agreed that strength, performance tests and sport-specific skills can be used to support RTP decision, while imaging cannot be used. These findings could be useful in assisting clinicians in the RTP decision making.
Highlights
Groin pain is a very common injury in multidirectional sports such as soccer, ice hockey, rugby and Australian football
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In accordance with Strategic Assessment of Risk and Risk Tolerance (StARRT) framework [12, 13], return to play (RTP) decision making is a complex process based on the evaluation of health and activity risks but it is influenced by the assessment of the risk tolerance modifiers
Summary
Groin pain is a very common injury in multidirectional sports such as soccer, ice hockey, rugby and Australian football. Long-standing adductor-related groin pain is a persistent clinical condition and a frequent complaint in athletes involved in sports that require multiplanar movement patterns (change of direction, high-speed sprinting and kicking). The aim of the present Delphi was to suggest, based on opinion and practical experience of a panel of experts, potential criteria that could be taken into consideration by clinicians in the RTP decision-making process in athletes suffering from long-standing adductor-related groin pain. Long-standing adductor-related groin pain (LARGP) is a persistent clinical condition with gradual or sudden onset characterised by adductor tenderness and pain on resisted adduction testing [7] It is a frequent complaint in athletes involved in multidirectional field sports that require multiplanar movement patterns, such as change of direction (COD) [8, 9], high-speed sprinting [4, 10] and kicking [11].
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