Return to Sport After Criteria-Based Rehabilitation of Acute Adductor Injuries in Male Athletes! 
Standardized criteria-based rehabilitation program based on active exercises, with an independent progression of basic exercises and progressive running and change-of-direction drills as well as a controlled sports training.
The rehabilitation program based mainly on our clinical experience in managing athletes with acute groin injuries while also considering the available literature on specific elements, such as muscle activation and strength increases in different exercises and treatment of long-standing groin pain.

• This protocol is a description of the standardized criteria-based treatment protocol included in our research study on acute adductor injuries.
• The sessions were supervised by a sports physiotherapist.
• The protocol was developed to minimize equipment needed. Only resistance elastics, agility cones, and a ball (if relevant) are needed.
• The protocol has two key parts. A groin exercise progression and a progressive running and sports protocol.
• For athletes with high compliance (˃3 sessions/week), additional non-groin exercises were included on alternate days when the protocol exercises were not performed. These were not standardized, but generally focused on the posterior chain muscle groups. These exercises all had to be completed without adductor pain.
• During the treatment period, therapeutic ultrasound, laser, and dry needling were prohibited.
• Soft-tissue treatment/massage was prohibited on the injured area, but allowed elsewhere, if high muscular tone was considered to limit exercise performance.
• Athletes were not allowed to progress through the rehabilitation phases if they were taking any form of pain medication.