Hip injuries have shaped the way I look at hockey.
As a sophomore in high school, I dislocated my hip playing the sport. That experience changed how I understood the demands hockey places on the body, and it is one of the reasons I have continued to be interested in hip-related pain in hockey players.
Now, as a sports physical therapist, I see the same pattern often: players feel hip or groin discomfort, brush it off, keep skating, and only address it once it starts affecting performance or becomes harder to manage. At the same time, these issues seem to be showing up earlier, likely because many athletes are exposed to high skating volumes, year-round hockey, and limited true recovery.
The goal of this first edition of The Hockey Health Brief is to help players, parents, and coaches better understand what hip and groin pain can mean in hockey. Not every ache is a major injury, but recurring symptoms are worth paying attention to. When athletes recognize the early signs, understand why hockey creates these issues, and take practical steps early, they have a better chance to stay healthy and keep performing.
But the research is clear: hip and groin problems are common in hockey, often develop gradually, and are easy to miss because many players continue practicing and playing through symptoms.
How common are hip and groin problems in hockey?
One key study followed 163 professional and semiprofessional male hockey players over one season. Researchers found that 45.4% of players experienced a hip or groin problem, and 19% experienced a substantial problem. Even more important, 69.2% developed gradually, and only 17% led to time loss. [1]
That matters because many hockey players with hip or groin symptoms are still in the lineup. They are skating, practicing, and competing, but they may not be moving at full capacity.
A player may start to lose stride length, feel slower out of turns, avoid certain positions, or notice recurring soreness after games and tournaments. They may not be “out,” but they are not functioning at their best.
This is not just an adult or professional hockey issue.
A recent study of youth ice hockey and ringette athletes ages 14 to 24 found that 61% reported hip-related groin pain. Male athletes with symptoms also demonstrated reduced hip range of motion, particularly into flexion, adduction, and internal rotation. Positive FADIR (Flexion-Adduction-Internal Rotation) testing was associated with up to 5-fold increased odds of hip-related groin pain. [2]
This does not mean every player with hip tightness has a serious injury. It does mean recurring hip and groin symptoms should not be dismissed as “normal hockey soreness.”
Why does hockey stress the hips so much?
Hockey is unique because skating places the hip in repeated, high-force positions.
Players spend time in deep hip flexion, produce force through lateral pushes, rotate through turns, absorb contact, battle along the boards, and repeatedly accelerate and decelerate. Over time, that combination creates a high demand on the hip joint, groin, adductors, hip flexors, glutes, and trunk.
The issue is usually not one stride. It is the accumulation of thousands of skating strides, practices, games, tournaments, skills sessions, and off-ice workouts.
One study looking at the acute effects of hockey found that after a single hockey exposure, players showed decreases in total hip rotation range of motion and adductor strength 24 hours later. This suggests that the hip and groin system can be measurably affected by hockey workload, even after one session. [5]
That matters because many players no longer have a true offseason. Spring hockey, summer camps, fall training, private lessons, and tournaments can keep skating volume high year-round.
When workload stays high and recovery stays low, the hips often give early warning signs.
When does this start?
For many players, hip issues do not suddenly appear in college or professional hockey. They often begin earlier.
The youth hockey and ringette study is important because it found high rates of hip-related groin pain in athletes as young as 14. It also reported femoroacetabular impingement syndrome findings on radiographs in 61% of males and 67% of females in the study population. [3]
FAI, or femoroacetabular impingement, refers to a hip shape that can contribute to pinching, reduced range of motion, and irritation with certain movements. In hockey players, this may show up as front-of-hip pinching, groin pain, stiffness, or difficulty getting into deeper skating positions.
For parents and coaches, the key takeaway is simple:
Hip and groin issues can start before an athlete is done growing.
That does not mean every young player needs imaging, surgery, or time away from the sport. In fact, youth research supports a conservative approach first in many cases.
A prospective study of adolescents with FAI syndrome found that after a stepwise nonoperative program, including rest, activity modification, physical therapy, and injection if needed, 82% were successfully managed without surgery at 5-year follow-up. [4]
Early symptoms should be taken seriously, but they should not automatically be viewed as a surgical problem. Many youth athletes have modifiable factors such as strength, mobility, motor control, recovery, workload, and training habits.
What should players, parents, and coaches watch for?
The concern is not one day of soreness. Hockey is demanding, and players are going to feel tired or stiff at times.
The bigger concern is a recurring pattern.
Pay attention to symptoms that repeatedly return, especially hip or groin soreness, front-of-hip pinching, pain with turning or opening the hips, loss of stride length, one-sided tightness, or soreness that lingers after tournaments.
One of the most useful findings from Wörner et al. was that the strongest risk factor for a future hip or groin problem was a prior non-time-loss hip or groin problem. In other words, the athlete who “just plays through it” may be the one most worth monitoring. [1]
Pain does not have to cause missed games to matter.
So what can players do to help prevent hip and groin problems?
Prevention is not one magic stretch. A better approach is to build a system that helps the athlete tolerate the demands of hockey.
1. Warm up with purpose, but do not rely only on stretching
A good warmup should prepare the hips for skating, not just make the athlete feel loose. Dynamic hip mobility, adductor activation, glute activation, trunk control, and skating-specific movement patterns are more useful than a few quick static stretches.
Stretching may help temporarily, but recurring tightness often means the athlete needs a more complete plan that includes strength, control, recovery, and workload management. The research supports dynamic warm-ups, neuromuscular training, flexibility work, technique education, and load monitoring as part of prevention planning.
2. Strength train year-round
Hockey players need strong hips, adductors, glutes, hip flexors, and trunk muscles.
This does not mean every athlete needs to lift heavy all year. It means players need consistent training that builds capacity over time. The hips must produce force, absorb force, and control motion in difficult positions. A player who only skates but never builds strength off the ice may eventually run out of physical buffer.
3. Monitor workload during heavy skating blocks
Many hip and groin problems develop gradually, so the weekly schedule matters.
A player skating four to six times per week, adding off-ice training, playing tournaments, and getting limited sleep may be stacking stress faster than the body can adapt. This is especially important during growth spurts, when coordination, flexibility, strength, and tissue tolerance may all be changing.
4. Get recurring symptoms checked early
The goal is not to shut every player down. The goal is to identify problems early enough that they can often be managed with simple changes.
For youth athletes, the research supports nonoperative management as the first-line approach in many cases, including activity modification and physical therapy. For higher-level athletes who fail conservative care, surgical options like hip arthroscopy can have good return-to-sport outcomes, but professional hockey research also shows that younger age and shorter symptom duration are associated with better career longevity after surgery. [4,6]
Earlier attention usually gives athletes more options.
The bottom line
Hip and groin pain is common in hockey, but common does not mean harmless.
The best approach is to recognize recurring symptoms early, build strength and mobility consistently, monitor workload, and address problems before they become season-long issues.
For players: listen to symptoms that keep coming back.
For parents: do not panic, but do not dismiss repeated hip or groin pain.
For coaches: understand that a player can be available and still be compensating.
For healthcare professionals: ask about non-time-loss symptoms, not just missed games.
Hockey places unique demands on the hips. The athletes who stay healthy are usually not the ones who never feel soreness. They are the ones who build enough capacity, recovery, and awareness to manage the demands of the sport.
That is what The Hockey Health Brief is here to help with.
See you on the ice,
Jeremy O’Keefe, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS
Integrated Performance
References
- Wörner T, Thorborg K, Clarsen B, Eek F. Incidence, Prevalence, and Severity of and Risk Factors for Hip and Groin Problems in Swedish Male Ice Hockey Players: A 1-Season Prospective Cohort Study. Journal of Athletic Training. 2022;57(1):72-78.
- Martin M, Soligon C, Galarneau JM, et al. Evaluating the Prevalence of Signs and Symptoms Associated With Hip-Related Groin Pain in Youth Ice Hockey and Ringette, Part 1. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. 2026.
- Martin M, Bullock GS, Galarneau JM, et al. Examining Symptoms, Clinical, and Radiographic Signs of Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome in Youth Ice Hockey and Ringette Athletes, Part 2. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. 2026.
- Zogby AM, Bomar JD, Johnson KP, Upasani VV, Pennock AT. Nonoperative Management of Femoroacetabular Impingement in Adolescents: Clinical Outcomes at a Mean of 5 Years. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2021;49(11):2960-2967.
- Suits WH, O'Neil MM, Fogarty KJ. Acute Effects of Ice Hockey on Hip Range of Motion, Strength, and Pelvic Tilt in Competitive Male Players. Sports Health. 2024;16(4):616-621.
- Slawaska-Eng D, Bouchard MD, Del Sordo L, Weber AE, Ayeni O. Performance and Return to Sport Outcomes Following Hip Arthroscopy in National Hockey League Players. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy. 2025.