Inner Thighs

[FatAndSlow 0]

I've been playing roller hockey for about 5 years. I've started to notice that my inner thighs, around my groin area, is becoming flabby. Is this normal? The front and outside of my thighs are like rocks now. Am I skating wrong? I wonder if I this is causing my hip pain also. Oh yeah, I play about 4 times a week (roller) and don't work out.

Thanks in advance....

[Law Goalie 147]

I've been playing roller hockey for about 5 years. I've started to notice that my inner thighs, around my groin area, is becoming flabby. Is this normal? The front and outside of my thighs are like rocks now. Am I skating wrong? I wonder if I this is causing my hip pain also. Oh yeah, I play about 4 times a week (roller) and don't work out.

Thanks in advance....

Yes, the fact that you're playing on a relatively punishing surface with relatively high frequency is probably causing some issues. Only a physiotherapist or sports medicine doctor will be to give you a complete and meaningful diagnosis. That said, one of the classic mechanical issues for hockey players (and goalies especially) is vastus medials oblique (VMO) weakness and vastus lateralis overdevelopment, which can lead to a variety of unpleasant problems like patella-femoral syndrome, hip and lower back issues, etc. Even a few sets of terminal knee extensions (TKE's) every week will begin to give you some help, and some self-applied massage to the lateral quad will likely give you a lot of relief. Standard disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I'm preaching from the gutter.

If you're really worried about your 'flabby inner thighs', my suggestion would be to stop wearing miniskirts on a daily basis.

[rachael7 1]

Yes, the fact that you're playing on a relatively punishing surface with relatively high frequency is probably causing some issues. Only a physiotherapist or sports medicine doctor will be to give you a complete and meaningful diagnosis. That said, one of the classic mechanical issues for hockey players (and goalies especially) is vastus medials oblique (VMO) weakness and vastus lateralis overdevelopment, which can lead to a variety of unpleasant problems like patella-femoral syndrome, hip and lower back issues, etc. Even a few sets of terminal knee extensions (TKE's) every week will begin to give you some help, and some self-applied massage to the lateral quad will likely give you a lot of relief. Standard disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I'm preaching from the gutter.

If you're really worried about your 'flabby inner thighs', my suggestion would be to stop wearing miniskirts on a daily basis.

LMAO! I might add, you could also try not being "fat and slow".

[start_today 770]

First, I'd like to mention that I'm preaching from the very same gutter as lawgoalie.

Second, I can't speak to your flabby thighs, but if the outside of your thighs are "hard," and you're having hip pain, ask your doctor about your i.t. band http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome . Essentially, because of the repeated motion of skating, the ligament(?) that connects the knee and hip basically shortens, and pulls on them causing pain and stiffness. When you play hockey, you use your legs so much that the band gets inflamed and develops these hard nodules that further keep you from being able to flex your leg properly. I would get pretty bad hip pain at night after hockey or after I squatted heavy, but never did anything about it, just attributed it to getting older. When I mentioned it to my doctor and then to a good chiropractor, they both diagnosed it in about 2 minutes, and both gave me stretches to do regularly. I had to visit the chiropractor twice a week for a bit, but it cleared up over a few months. A lot of runners experience this as knee pain, but it presents as hip pain in others; after doing research and talking to people, I'm positive that this is what was wrong with me.

[hockeymom 2]

I'll chime in here to add: check your feet. Although it likely has little to do with your thighs it seems timely to add this thought into the mix: If you pronate, or have one of the many other issues we all have to a greater or lesser extent with our feet, poor foot alignment can result in knee or hip problems. The shock waves have to travel somewhere.

[shooter27 116]

Regarding the IT band - I had an issue with it as well as it had gotten tight from so many years of skating. The IT band attaches at the OUTSIDE of your hip, runs down along your quad and then attaches to the INSIDE of your knee. Mine had gotten so tight that it was pulling on my kneecap and patella to the point that my doc thought I had torn the patella. A couple of MRIs and a trip to the PT later they diagnosed it as an IT band problem and now I stretch my quad and hip flexor and use a foam roll on my IT band daily and that has alleviated most of the pain.