How to Recognize and Treat Groin and Testicular Injuries in Youth Soccer

Soccer has one of the lowest injury rates of any youth sport, but sports and injuries, unfortunately, go hand in hand. With a little knowledge of safety and prevention, you can help your child reduce the likelihood of groin and testicular problems.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Aspirins
• Cold Compresses
• First Aid Kits
• Soccer Apparel

1. Watch for groin pulls, which can affect either muscles or tendons. They're also more common in boys, who usually have tighter ligaments than girls.

2. Treat groin pulls with rest, ice and physical therapy.

3. Stretch and strengthen the injured muscle or tendon.

4. Don't worry too much about testicular injuries. Caused by blunt trauma, they are quite rare. Despite pain, nausea, swelling or discoloration, the problem almost always resolves itself. Use pain medication and ice, if necessary.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your child warms up and stretches before playing. These measures can prevent groin pulls.
• Make sure your child wears constriction shorts (fitted shorts under regular shorts) to keep groin muscles warm.
• Make sure your child wears long pants in cool weather before and immediately after playing.
• Make sure a medical kit is kept on the sideline.
• Consider a cup. It is the only worthwhile preventive measure for testicular injury. However, because of the inconvenience and the low incidence of significant testicular injuries in soccer, most players don't use one.

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on 11/22/2005 A soft cup supporter is ideal for soccer. It provides the support and protection that active players need. A soft cup is more comfortable to wear than a hard cup, yet prevents injury and allows a player to stay in the game if he gets hit in the groin.