Sydney FC’s pain below the belt.

Sydney FC bow out of the 2006/07 championship series with a dogged 3-2 loss on aggregate. The Jets of Newcastle thoroughly deserved their win over Sydney having lost their opening seven games under coach Nick Theos.

Oh how different the result may have been if Terry McFlynn had been on the scene. Terry injured his right Adductor muscle towards the end of full time in the first semi final against Newcastle. Up until that point he was influential in keeping his side together and closing down the attacking prowess of Nicky Carle and Milton Rodriguez.

Adductor muscle strains and tears are one of the most common injuries in Football. This injury is particularly prevalent in sports like football that involve kicking, jumping, stepping and cutting movements. There are many causes for adductor muscle strain including a decrease in flexibility of the muscle compared to the other side, an adductor to abductor strength imbalance and more recently a decrease in hip rotation (internal plus external hip rotation).

Acute cases of muscle strain and tearing can be treated with rest, anti-inflammatories, and muscle strengthening exercise (see website) and in recalcitrant cases cortisone injections

In chronic cases the adductor muscle tightness can be part of the syndrome for which Osteitis Pubis occurs. In this case treatment involves an adductor tenotomy (cutting the tendon) to relieve the pressure of the tendon origin. In Terry’s case, tearing of the tendon has in fact led to a decrease in the amount of tension in the tendon. In surgical cases of adductor tenotomy, patients take 6-8 weeks to return to sport. The healing time can be delayed by scarring at the site of incision, where your physiotherapist and Sports Physicians can help. Aggressive massage and cortisone injections are all used to treat this problem.