Great Britain Men’s Tennis Andy Murray Injury Discussion

Ranked number 19 in the world, British tennis star Andy Murray revealed that he had successful right hip surgery. The extent of his hip surgery has not been disclosed. But the hip has been causing him issues since last June during the French Open.

He had to withdraw from the U.S. Open last year and has withdrawn from this year’s Australian Open. He says his goal is return for Wimbledon in July.

What further complicates his issue is that he suffered a groin injury which required surgery last December. Groin discomfort is not uncommon for someone suffering from a hip injury. Many of the muscles that attach to the femur are hip muscles or groin muscles.

Anatomy Review:

Lets first start with the pelvis. The pelvis is made up of three distinct bones: ilium, ischium, and pubis. The part of the pelvis that creates the ball and socket joint for the femur is the acetabulum.

The femur is a long bone. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum to create the hip joint. The hip is a ball and socket joint that allows for a great amount of range of motion in all three planes of movement. The femur also serves as attachment points for many of the hip flexor muscles and groin muscles that are plaguing Andy Murray. The hip flexor muscles attach on the front of the femur and the adductor muscles attach on the medial side of the femur.

With the increased range of motion that a ball and socket allows the ligaments that hold the femur in place need to be very strong and stable.

The ligaments of the hip: ischiofemoral, iliofemoral, pubofemoral, ligamentum teres, and the labrum. The ligamentum teres is a vital ligament because it houses the blood supply to the femoral head, so if there is severe damage to the ligamentum teres the femoral head is at risk.

The muscles of the hip could are also possibilities for reason of his hip surgery. A little less likely, but always a possibility. The hip flexor muscles are attached on the anterior side of the femur. The hip flexors range from attaching at the spine (psoas), to attaching in the bowl of the pelvis (iliacus), to attaching at the ilium (rectus femoris and sartorius).

What I Could Do?

It’s difficult to comment on his case, because I don’t know why he underwent surgery. He did try physical therapy to prevent surgery. He still underwent surgery, but it’s also a place I cannot comment on because I don’t know what the therapist did. He certainly did not have a run-in-the-mill PT who just had hip doing singe leg raises to build strength.

In terms of manual muscle work, we would do a lot of work on the hip flexors: psoas, iliacus, sartorius, but we’ll also work the adductor muscles and the posterior hip muscles (hip extensors).

The Body Saw front plank is an exercise I use with a lot of patients and athletes who are dealing with anterior hip pain. The reason I use it is because a quick activation of the anterior core and activation of the anterior chain can often decrease some of the pain and stiffness patient’s are experiencing in the front of the hip.

My Take:

Andy Murray has said it is his goal to be ready for Wimbledon. It gives him about 5-6 months to prepare for Wimbledon, that is including him needing to play a few grass court tournaments prior to starting Wimbledon.

As I have mentioned throughout the entire article, it’s tough to comment because his injury was not disclosed. With that being said, I’ve seen Andy Murray play for the last several years. I think if he’s able to be fully healthy (hip and groin full recovered) he has a chance, but I don’t see him making much noise at Wimbledon and his 2018 tennis season could not be what he comes to expect, he is already missing two majors (Australian and French).

He could always consider taking 2018 to fully recovery from all his injuries and come back strong for 2019.