Minimum reporting standards for clinical research on groin pain in athletes.

Groin pain in athletes is an area of focus for sports physiotherapy and sports medicine research. Heterogeneous studies with low methodological quality dominate research associated with groin pain in athletes. Low-quality studies undermine the external validity of research findings and limit the ability to generalise findings to the target patient population. Minimum reporting standards for research on groin pain in athletes are overdue. This paper proposes a set of minimum reporting standards based on best available evidence to be utilised in future research on groin pain in athletes. Minimum reporting standards are provided pertaining to study methodology, study participants and injury history, clinical examination, clinical assessment and radiology. Adherence to these minimum reporting standards will make the quality and transparency of research conducted on groin pain in athletes stronger. This will make possible an easier comparison of outcomes across future studies.