When we talk about hip strength, we focus mainly on the muscles on the outside of the hips. The glutes! We love them. I love them. Strong glutes protect the knees and hips from injury and help us so much in performance- no matter what your performance is! But we (myself included) tend to forget about the groin. We stretch these muscles. But we don’t do much to make sure they are strong.
Adductors are the muscles located on the inside of your upper leg. They work to bring your leg towards midline when it is out to the side. A small section of the adductors also work to bend the knee (with the hamstrings). If you are experiencing tightness in the inside of your leg, you may be dealing with adductor tightness due to weakness.
Of course, to really know, you’d need a proper assessment from a movement specialist.
Weak adductors can put you at higher risk for injury when you are involved in sports that require agility skills and cutting. Weakness here can also lead to poorer performance in lifts like the squat. The bigger, more well known muscles get more attention when we are thinking of lower body strength, but the adductors are also big players.
I hope this motivates you to become more mindful of how restricted your adductors are and what that might mean! If the issue truly is weakness, stretching won’t cut it.
Holler at me with questions!
Dr. Rachel Atufunwa PT, DPT