The inner thigh or adductor muscles are often overworked, overstretched and under-strengthened, warns certified training coach Anthony Donskov of Donskov Strength and Conditioning. While the hockey slide may require some inner thigh flexibility, adductor strengthening exercises enhance inner knee stability while protecting hockey players from groin pulls and medial knee injuries.
Correcting Muscle Imbalances
Muscular imbalance between the inner and outer thighs is a possible underlying cause of injury in hockey players, says physical therapist Timothy Tyler of the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. While the inner thighs or adductors move the leg toward the body's center, the outer thighs or abductors move the leg away from center. An abductor/adductor strength ratio that favors the abductors alters your biomechanics and leaves you susceptible to injury. In an article in the May/June 2010 of "Sports Health," Tyler recommends a program that compensates for this imbalance. If you play hockey and have a tendency toward groin and knee injuries, consider performing fewer repetitions and using lighter weights for your abductor exercises.
Post Injury
An injured inner thigh muscle may lack contractile sensation and may require isometric contraction exercises to reeducate the muscles. Lie supine with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, and place a medicine ball between your inner thighs. Squeeze the ball with your inner thighs, and hold the contraction for 10 seconds. Perform 10 repetitions. If your physical therapist gives you the okay, progress the exercise to include the stability ball bridge. Place your feet on the stability ball, and place the medicine ball between your inner thighs. Squeeze the medicine ball as you lift each vertebra from the floor to create a spinal bridge. Relax your inner thighs as you return to the floor. Perform 10 repetitions. The bridge trains you to use your adductors in conjunction with your hamstrings, gluteal and core muscles to maintain dynamic postural stability.
Unilateral Leg Exercises
Your coach or physical therapist may prescribe unilateral inner thigh exercises if one leg is weaker than the the other. In some cases, she may advise you to perform more repetitions on your weaker side. Assume a side-lying position and place a leg weight around your bottom ankle. Bend your top knee and place the foot on the floor in front of your bottom leg. Keep your bottom foot facing straight ahead as you lift your bottom leg from the floor. Imagine that you have a seam going up the center of your your leg, and that you are tightening the seam with each repetition. Perform three sets of 15 repetitions, or more under coach or therapist advisement.
Bilateral Strength Exercises
Bilateral inner thigh exercises train both legs to work simultaneously. The adductor setting on the inner and outer thigh machine is effective for this purpose. Set the machine to the open position. Sit upright with your feet in the stirrups, contract your inner thighs and move your legs toward center.
Slide Board
The slide board is one of the few athletic training devices that engages the muscles used during the lateral movements of the hockey slide, says Mike Boyle, president of Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning and former Boston Bruins training coach. In an October, 2001 article in "Training and Conditioning," Boyle suggests that placing the slide board near a mirror provides valuable visual feedback about your technique. Begin with one foot on the bumper and your other foot on the slide board. Maintaining 120- to 130-degrees of knee flexion, glide across the board to the opposite bumper. Boyle suggests beginning with a ratio of 30 seconds of work to 90 seconds of rest. Try to eventually increase your speed, so that you are performing one push-off per second.
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