Effectiveness of Field-Based Resistance Training Protocols on Hip Muscle Strength Among Young Elite Football Players.

Groin and hip injuries are common in young football players, and strengthening exercises like the Copenhagen adduction and sliding hip exercises are often used to try to reduce that risk. This trial asked whether an eight week program of one or the other exercise would improve hip muscle strength in young elite footballers compared with a group that did not do either program. Forty two players were randomly assigned to one of the two exercise groups or a control group, and their hip adductor and abductor strength, along with the ratio between them, were measured before and after training.

Both exercise groups showed clear within-group strength gains compared with their own starting point and compared with the control group. However, when the two active exercise approaches were compared against each other, the analysis detected no statistically significant difference between the approaches. The main limitation is the small, young, male-only sample, which limits how far these findings can be generalised.

If you're a young football player or work with one, you may have heard about specific exercises meant to strengthen the hips and reduce groin injury risk. This study looked at two such exercises, the Copenhagen adduction exercise and the sliding hip exercise, in a group of 42 teenage male football players over eight weeks.

One group did the Copenhagen exercise, another did the sliding hip exercise, and a third group did neither, continuing their usual training. Both exercise groups got noticeably stronger in their hip muscles compared with the group that didn't do either exercise.

When researchers compared the two exercises directly against each other, the analysis detected no statistically significant difference between the approaches, meaning neither exercise came out clearly ahead of the other in this study. It's worth remembering this was a small trial of young male athletes, so the results may not apply the same way to other groups, such as female players, older adults, or different sports.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

This randomised controlled trial compared eight weeks of twice-weekly Copenhagen adduction (CA) training, sliding hip (SH) training, or a matched control condition in 42 young male elite football players (mean age 17.5 years). Eccentric hip adductor (EHAD) and abductor (EHAB) strength, plus the EHAD/EHAB ratio, were assessed via break test at baseline and follow-up, with no significant baseline differences between groups (all P > 0.053). Both the CA and SH groups showed significant within-group increases in EHAD and EHAB strength bilaterally (CA: d = 2.11 right, 1.9 left; SH: d = 1.68 right, 1.67 left) and improved EHAD/EHAB ratios (CA: d = 0.84 right, 1.14 left; SH: d = 1.34 right, 1.44 left), both significantly exceeding control.

However, the abstract does not report a statistically significant difference between the CA and SH groups themselves, so no clear superiority of one protocol over the other can be inferred from this trial. Clinically, this suggests both field-based protocols can enhance hip strength measures relative to no targeted intervention, but the sample size, single population (young elite male footballers), and short eight-week duration limit generalisability and long-term injury-prevention conclusions.