A painful inner thigh after a football match, sprint or sudden slip may be a groin strain. The right rehabilitation depends on the cause and severity. This guide explains typical symptoms, realistic recovery times and when private physiotherapy may help you plan a return to activity.
Start with a free initial consultation
Book your free initial consultation with YourPhysio to meet the physiotherapist, describe your symptoms and understand the service before choosing paid treatment.
Paid physiotherapy sessions are optional and secondary. There is no obligation to book paid treatment after this introductory conversation. This is not an emergency service.
What is a groin strain?
A groin strain can involve the muscles or tendons around the inner thigh, commonly the adductor longus. These muscles help bring the legs together. A sudden injury during twisting, kicking or changing direction differs from pain that gradually develops with repeated loading. Both deserve an assessment if symptoms persist.
Typical symptoms include tenderness on the inside of the thigh, discomfort when bringing the knees together, and sometimes swelling or bruising. Raising the knee, climbing stairs or moving the leg quickly may hurt. These symptoms alone cannot confirm a diagnosis.
When groin pain needs urgent medical help
Go to A&E immediately or call 999 for sudden, severe testicle pain; testicle pain with nausea, vomiting or tummy pain; or testicle pain lasting more than an hour or continuing at rest. Do not drive yourself. Do not treat these symptoms as a sports strain.
Seek urgent medical assessment if you cannot put weight through the leg after a significant injury, or have a hot, swollen hip with fever. NHS 111 can direct you to appropriate care.
A groin lump may be a hernia: arrange a GP assessment rather than trying to exercise it away. If you have a hernia with pain, a bloated tummy, vomiting, constipation or fever, get help from NHS 111. For pelvic pain with possible pregnancy, fever or urinary symptoms, seek urgent advice too. Persistent or unexplained pain needs a clinician's review.
What should you do in the first few days?
Temporarily reduce the movements that aggravate the injury, including hard kicking, sprinting or sharp turns. Gentle, comfortable movement can begin as tolerated; protection does not mean staying completely still until every sensation disappears.
A wrapped cold pack may help discomfort: Berkshire Healthcare NHS suggests 15–20 minutes every two to three hours early on. Keep a towel between the pack and skin and check for skin irritation. Ask a pharmacist or GP which pain relief is suitable for you.
How long does a groin strain take to recover?
Leeds Community Healthcare NHS advises that a minor strain may recover in a couple of weeks, while more severe injuries can take several months. Longstanding adductor-related groin pain may also need months of rehabilitation. These are broad expectations, not a deadline or a promise that you will be ready for a match.
Recovery should include restoring comfortable movement and strength as well as settling pain. If walking remains difficult or improvement is not starting, arrange a review rather than repeatedly testing the injury at full speed.
Groin strain exercises: start with manageable loading
Once a strain has been assessed and symptoms allow, a physiotherapist may introduce an inner-thigh squeeze. Berkshire Healthcare describes lying on your back with bent knees and gently squeezing a ball between the knees for five seconds before relaxing. The amount and frequency should suit your symptoms; a harder squeeze is not automatically better.
Further rehabilitation may include a bridge with a gentle squeeze, more demanding adductor strengthening and exercises for the surrounding hip and trunk muscles. Progress should reflect your response, rather than copying an athlete's advanced routine.
If exercise significantly worsens symptoms, reduce the load or stop and seek advice. Pain should settle after a session without a later flare-up. New warning signs need medical attention, not an exercise modification.
When can you return to running or football?
Use the demands of your sport to guide the discussion. Oxford University Hospitals advises a gradual return and, for football, being able to run, sprint, change direction, jump and kick pain-free before playing a game. Feeling comfortable on a short walk does not demonstrate readiness for all of those tasks.
Alternative activity can help maintain fitness during rehabilitation if it is comfortable and suitable for you. Your physiotherapist can help choose activities and build towards sport-specific training. Keep a note of what you did and how symptoms responded later that day and the following morning.
How private physiotherapy can help
A useful assessment explores how the pain began, where it occurs and which movements affect it. A plan can then address movement, strength and the activities you want to regain, with review points and referral if the findings suggest another cause.
For the first conversation, note the injury date, any bruising or lump, your walking tolerance and your usual training. Ask what an assessment involves, how progress will be checked and what optional paid treatment would cost. You can decide afterwards whether the service suits you.
If your discomfort is mainly behind the thigh, our separate hamstring injury recovery guide may also be useful. It does not replace assessment of unexplained groin pain.
Start with a free initial consultation
Book your free initial consultation with YourPhysio to meet the physiotherapist, describe your symptoms and understand the service before choosing paid treatment.
Paid physiotherapy sessions are optional and secondary. There is no obligation to book paid treatment after this introductory conversation. This is not an emergency service.
Sources and further reading
Information checked on 19 October 2026. This article offers general guidance; individual assessment determines appropriate care.
- Berkshire Healthcare NHS: groin strain advice and exercises.
- Leeds Community Healthcare NHS: groin strain and recovery.
- NHS Dynamic Health: hip adductor strains and tendinopathies.
- Oxford University Hospitals: adductor-related groin pain rehabilitation.
- NHS: testicle pain (reviewed 26 June 2025).
- NHS: hernia (reviewed 19 May 2026).
- NHS: pelvic pain and urgent symptoms.