Active pelvic tilt is reduced in athletes with groin injury; a case-controlled study

Objective: To study if athletes with groin injury had less active pelvic tilt (APT) than non-injured controls. Design: Case-control. Setting: Sports physiotherapy clinics and sports clubs. Participants: 17 athletes (Tegner>5, age 25.1(5.2) with groin injury and 27 healthy controls (Tenger>5, age 24.4(3.6)). Main outcome measures: Active pelvic tilt, defining the ability of an individual to actively tilt the pelvis anteriorly and posteriorly over a frontal axis, and hip range of motion (HROM) parameters. Results: Linear regression model associations with generalized estimated equations revealed that APT was lower on injured sides compared to non-injured for total (21.1(7.1) vs. 27.2(8.0), P =.003, effect size (ES) = 0.8) and anterior (10.2(5.9) vs. 13.7(4.8), P =.004, ES = 0.65) APT. Posterior APT (−10.9(3.6) vs. −13.4(5.2), P =.06, ES = 0.56) showed a trend towards being lower in those with groin injury. HROM parameters were not found associated. Conclusions: Total active and anterior pelvic tilt were lower on the injured side in athletes with groin injury when compared to non-injured sides and healthy controls. This may be a relevant factor to consider in rehabilitation. Whether this is a cause or effect cannot be ascertained due to the cross sectional study design.