6 Great Adductor Exercises (Physical Therapy Progression)

By dpope2020

April 29, 2023

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6 Great Adductor Exercises (Physical Therapy Progression)

In today's episode we go over 6 Great Adductor Exercises (Physical Therapy Progressions):

Key Points:

  • Adductor Longus is an important muscle in certain pathologies such as strain injury, athletic pubalgia, tendinopathy, and femoral acetabular impingement syndrome.
  • Physical therapists and coaches do not always have great knowledge of different adductor exercises (but should).
  • The exercises range from easy to hard so the therapist can use them depending on how irritable the patient's injury is.
  • The first and easiest exercise is a short lever adduction using a band or cable.
  • The last and hardest exercise progression is a longer lever Copenhagen plank 

As a physical therapist and coach, you are likely to see patients with adductor pathology in your practice. This can range from a little discomfort to severe pain that can be mild enough to only be felt during heavy training in the gym or as bad as affecting all daily activities.

Adductor exercises can be an effective way to manage this condition, but it's important to know how to appropriately prescribe these exercises from easy to hard to ensure your patients' safety and success.  Choose the right exercises and your patient is on the fast track to success.  Pick exercises that are too difficult and you can make the patient worse.  It all comes down to knowing how to dose exercise for success.

As you know, the adductors are a group of muscles located in the inner thigh that help bring the legs together. These muscles are crucial for movements such as walking, running, and jumping.  The adductors are also very important for movements in the frontal plane so sports that require a lot of motion here are a little more likely to have adductor issues (Hockey, soccer etc). It's also important to understand that the adductor longus is also an important hip flexor and therefore can be trained with hip flexion exercises.

In today's video we go over how to prescribe adductor exercises from easy to hard so that you can find the right challenge for your patients and get them back into the weight room.  Check out the video below to learn:

In conclusion, when prescribing adductor exercises, it's essential to start with easy exercises and gradually progress to more challenging exercises. This ensures your patients' safety and success and helps them manage their adductor pathology effectively. Remember to pay close attention to your patients' feedback and modify the exercises accordingly.

Everybody loves a good adductor...

- Dan Pope PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

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Dan Pope DPT, OCS, CSCS

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