Almost every single athlete that has suffered from groin issues in the past has been prescribed the copenhagen plank as a means of treating it.

Absolutely no one likes them.

And from my conversations with athletes suffering from chronic groin pain. (which occur every day)

They rarely solve the issue.

Physios interpret the weakness in the athlete’s groin as the cause of the pain.

Whereas the pain itself and the inhibition in the tissue as a result of it, is often what leads to the groin presenting as weak.

When we assess other tissues and joints in the lower body and surrounding the area…

We also see that those tissues may present as weak and restricted in their range of motion.

But these areas don’t present with pain.

So, could the groin be presenting with pain as a result of doing too much, rather than doing too little?

Could we reduce the level of strain on the groin by progressively strengthening the tissues around it, rather than solely focusing on it alone?

And when we think about the copenhagen plank, it certainly will load the groin and place a lot of load on the tissue.

But given that the copenhagen plank is an isometric, will it definitely load the groin through full range of motion and improve its strength in multiple different positions?

Almost certainly not.

Will it improve the strength of the groin in adduction?

Maybe.

But will the athlete’s ability to load into the exercise be largely influenced by their level of pain?

Absolutely.

Will all athletes suffering from groin pain be able to tolerate the forces going through the groin during the exercise?

Probably not.

Will a lot of those forces go through the adductor tendon as well as the adductor itself?

Absolutely.

Will some of the athletes presenting with chronic groin pain present with tears of the adductor tendon.

Certainly.

Are there other methods of loading the groin through full range of motion, with lower amounts of force and with less risk of inducing a flare up?

Absolutely.

And some studies have shown that the implementation of the copenhagen plank across a season has no significant effect on decreasing the incidence of groin injury.

The copenhagen plank is one of the most widely studied exercises out there.

Which is exactly why many practitioners trust it and pick it as a method for strengthening the groin.

However, in this specific scenario, I fail to see how the exercise is ever going to solve the issue at all.

The groin assists with many movements of the hips and pelvis.

The pelvis must be able to move in all three planes of motion if we are to move efficiently.

Athletes experiencing athletic groin pain often present with an inability to move the pelvis in all 3 planes of motion.

And the groin is very active when we move the pelvis in all 3 planes of motion.

It assists with hip flexion & extension in the sagittal plane.

It quite obviously assists with hip adduction and contracts eccentrically during abduction in the frontal plane.

And it assists with hip internal and external rotation in the transverse plane.

So, if it does all of that, and the athlete can’t do all of that, then surely the answer lies closer to improving the athletes ability to move through all 3 of those planes of motion.

Rather than simply increasing adductor strength through a shorter range, in order to solve the issue.

The adductor is where pain presents.

That DOES NOT mean that it is where the issue lies.

If other tissues are trained to pick up the slack when moving in all 3 planes of motion, then the groin will likely have to do less.

If it does less, then pain will be less likely.

If pain is less prevalent, then we will have more capacity to attempt to strengthen the area without the risks of inducing a flare up.

The first goal of rehab should always be to do no harm.

After that, we need to attempt to solve the issue by improving the athlete’s tolerance to load.

But we must attempt to improve the athlete’s tolerance for loading with the lowest risk possible of suffering further injury and going backwards.

And throwing our athletes into a copenhagen plank straight off the bat is not likely to do that.

It’s not likely to solve the problem.

And it’s more likely to lead to a worsening of symptoms.

So, for that reason I think it’s idiotic.

And that’s not to say that the copenhagen plank is a bad exercise.

It’s just not likely to be the right exercise for this stage of the process.

So for that reason, I would wait a significant amount of time before prescribing it for my hip and groin athletes.

References

1. The Copenhagen Adduction Exercise Effect on Sport Performance and Injury Prevention: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. (2025).
   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40827942/
2. Hölmich, P., et al. (1999). Effectiveness of active physical training as treatment for long-standing adductor-related groin pain in athletes: Randomised trial. The Lancet, 353(9151), 439–443.
   https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(98)03340-6
3. Weir, A., et al. (2015). Doha agreement meeting on terminology and definitions in groin pain in athletes. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(12), 768–774.
   https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-094869
4. Serner, A., et al. (2020). Return to sport after criteria-based rehabilitation of acute adductor injuries in male athletes: A prospective cohort study. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 8(1), 2325967119897247.
   https://doi.org/10.1177/2325967119897247