One thing each and every male on this planet can relate to is an injury to his "yogurt factory."
We've seen videos on the internet hilariously showing a man taking a shot to the chones from his child's swung wiffle ball bat. But it's not always fun and games.
Jaromir Jagr in this instance did not injure his wedding tackle, but instead suffered a minor groin pull in lastnight's win over the Phoenix Coyotes...
“He’s got a little bit of thing in his lower body and we don’t think it’s anything serious,” Holmgren said. “I just talked to Jaromir. He thinks within in a couple days he should be better. Hopefully, we get him back on Monday.”
That "little bit of a thing" described by the Flyers general manager could turn out to be much more serious than you think. Then again, if Jagr says he thinks he should be fine for Monday's match against the visiting Hurricanes, then we should take his word for it.
But for the sake of playing devil's advocate, let's take to WebMD.com to get a further look on this popular sports related injury.
The groin pull/tear most commonly occurs in athletes playing football and/or soccer. Anything that involves a lot of running. Jagr, as we all know, earns his money cutting through an icy pond on skate blades, but as long as the muscles in an athlete's groin area are stressed or tensed suddenly or forcefully, then the muscles are always subjected to potential pulling/tearing.
There are three degrees in severity of a groin pull --
- 1st degree: Pain, but little loss of strength or movement, which seems to be Jagr's case according to the reports disclosed to us from the media and Flyers management.
- 2nd degree: Pain and some tissue damage.....please, God, no. And...
- 3rd degree: Pain, loss of function, and a complete tear of the muscle.
Unless Jagr is Wolverine, we can count that last one out. When a 3rd degree groin injury occurs it generally starts off with a popping or snapping noise.
Yes, I just grimaced typing that.
Followed by the sounds of fireworks going off between your legs, an immense pain follows. Like, IMMENSE pain. I've torn my achilles tendon in half about three years ago. Tearing a muscle/ligament is no joke. The pain is so great that it is literally all you can think about. You fall to the ground in a heap of cries, moans and tears, and you just try your hardest not to turn your pants into a used pair of Depends.
So again, it's safe to assume Jagr's groin never experienced this trauma last night.
Let's say it's just the 1st degree groin pull. At this rate, Jagr is better off not speeding up his recovery process. The best thing he can do for now is staying off his feet, keeping his upper thigh tightly wrapped and iced, and giving it a lengthy moment of stretching two or three times a day between now and Monday.
The Philadelphia Flyers head office has a reputation of painting a vague picture to the press. The news they release MUST be taken with a grain of salt. Could the injury prevent him from returning as soon as Monday versus Carolina?
I'm leaning towards yes, and here's why...
You cannot rush things. Surgery is a groin injury's last resort, and usually keeps the person from returning to the sport the same player they were, if at all. Instead of getting back on skates, it's recommended that Jagr "switch to a new activity that won't put too much stress on your groin muscles."
WebMD says that runners will switch to swimming, which is an exercise we all know stretches and works every muscle in the body, especially your groin, thighs, inner thighs, and hamstrings.
So if you're in the area, be on the lookout for a Biker Bar Reject look-a-like at the local YMCA --
