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When Can I Run Again After Hurting My Left Groin?

I pulled my left groin about two months ago (at least I think I pulled it). I run on a regular basis and was training for a half marathon. Two months ago when I started one of my runs my left groin instantly started hurting. I mean it started hurting on the first step I took.

I continued to run through the pain and barely finished my 4 mile run. I let it rest about 5 days and tried running again, the pain came back.

I have been doing this for a while because the pain starts when I'm running and goes away after a few days depending on how hard I push myself. A little more than a month ago I ran in an 8 mile hilly run and made it but with a huge amount of pain.

I finally saw the doctor three weeks ago because it wasn't healing and he told me to do some pilates because my muscle there was tight and to lay off running for a month. The problem is that I can't see the same doctor again because I'm not eligible to be seen there anymore. But when I saw the doctor he noticed that my lymph nodes in my left groin area were swollen and about 2-3 times larger than the ones on my right.

How do I know when i can run again and when the injury is healed? I want to run again soon but I don't want to re injure myself or cause permanent damage.

What would you recommend? Have you ever heard of this type of injury before and what did you do?

– Katie, San Diego, CA, USA

Answer by Dom: Hi Katie,
Thanks for your running injury question. The swollen lymph node is the most important thing in your message. Enlarged lymph nodes (small bean-shaped glands that filter fluid and fight infection) aren't a typical feature of a simple groin strain, and one 2–3 times the size of its partner needs an in-person check promptly. Please book with a different doctor this week — everything below applies only once a doctor has looked at it and found nothing else going on.

I have pulled my groin muscles a few times before. This is usually caused due to ignoring my stretching routines (weakening groin muscles) or overuse/overtraining. This type of injury is solved by taking some rest and strengthening exercises for the groin area. What your doctor prescribed — rest and pilates — is exactly that. Here is how I'd handle the comeback once you have the all-clear, plus the warning signs to watch for along the way:

1. Why your pattern keeps resetting the injury
2. The tests that tell you it's healed
3. A walk-run comeback, week by week
4. Strengthening the groin so it stays away
5. Red flags: when to see a doctor

1. Why your pattern keeps resetting the injury

Look at what happened. You ran 4 miles (6.4 km) on a painful groin. You rested five days, then ran again at the first sign you felt okay. Then came an 8-mile (13 km) hilly run through "huge" pain. Each time, the muscle was only partly healed — and you loaded it again.

Pain that eases after a few days of rest doesn't mean healing is finished. It means the irritation has settled. Hills and long runs ask far more of the groin muscles than flat, easy miles do. Running through sharp pain also tends to turn a small niggle into a long one.

So the rule changes. Don't ask "does it hurt less today?" Ask "does it pass every test below, and does it stay quiet the next morning?" That is how you stop the cycle.

2. The tests that tell you it's healed

Before any running, you should pass all of these, with no pain at all:

• Walking: 30 minutes at a brisk pace, including the first steps after sitting, which is where your pain started.
• Squeeze test: lie on your back, knees bent at 90 degrees, a pillow or ball between your knees. Squeeze firmly for 5 seconds, five times. The adductors (the inner-thigh muscles that pull your legs together) must feel strong and pain-free.
• Stairs and lunges: bodyweight only, ten each side, no pinch in the groin.
• Hopping and skipping: 20 small hops on each leg, then a minute of skipping. This is closest to the pounding the groin takes when running.

Fail any test? Stay on walking and strengthening for another week, then test again. Be honest with yourself — I'd rather you wait seven more days than restart the clock.

3. A walk-run comeback, week by week

Your half marathon is not a deadline. Don't chase the date. A sensible re-entry takes most of a month before any long run. Keep every session flat and easy, on alternate days.

• Week 1: jog 1 minute, walk 2 minutes, repeat 8 times (24 minutes). Three sessions.
• Week 2: jog 2 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat 8 times.
• Week 3: jog 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat 4 times.
• Week 4: easy continuous running, 20 minutes, then 25.

Use the 24-hour rule. If the groin feels fine that evening and again the next morning, move on. If it's sore, repeat the same step — don't go back to the start, and don't push forward. A mild stiffness that fades in minutes is okay; sharp or growing pain is not. Stop the run if you feel it.

No hills, no speed work and no long runs until you've had two full weeks of easy running with zero symptoms. After that, add 10 minutes to one run a week — and expect your first run beyond 8 miles (13 km) to be several weeks away. A half marathon later in the season beats a half marathon you start injured.

4. Strengthening the groin so it stays away

Weak adductors are a big reason groins get pulled. Start these only after your doctor clears you, and keep doing them twice a week as you build up:

• Adductor squeezes: the pillow squeeze above, 10 holds of 5 seconds, daily at first.
• Copenhagen side plank, easy version: lie on your side, top knee resting on a bench or chair, bottom leg hanging. Lift your hips and hold 15 seconds, three times per side. Build towards 30 seconds, then place your ankle on the bench instead of your knee.
• Side-lying leg raises: 12–15 slow reps, three sets.

Keep your pilates going too. It builds the deep hip and pelvic muscles that support everything above.

5. Red flags: when to see a doctor

• Swollen or enlarged lymph nodes in the groin aren't a typical sign of a muscle strain. If you get a strain diagnosis alongside a lymph-node finding like this, that combination, not the strain alone, needs a prompt in-person medical evaluation, even if the strain itself is improving.
• A strain that isn't healing on the timeline you'd expect is itself a reason to get reassessed, rather than carrying on with the original rest-and-pilates plan alone. You were still dealing with pain after roughly two months of intermittent rest and two failed return-to-running attempts — that's exactly the kind of stalled recovery worth flagging to a doctor.
• If you can't get back in with your original doctor, find another in-person provider promptly. Don't let it become something to mention "if convenient" at some future, unscheduled visit.

Katie, you've been patient, and stubborn, for two months, which tells me you love your running. Get that lymph node checked first, then rebuild slowly and you'll be back non-stop on the roads. Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Dom

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