You are crouched, ready to field a grounder and the baseball takes an unexpected bounce straight into your unprotected “peanuts”. Ouch! If only you were wearing a protective shell to keep your peanuts protected. An athletic cup is protective equipment for the groin area used by boys participating in contact sports such as baseball, hockey, lacrosse, football and martial arts.
Groin injuries are relatively uncommon, but boys should be aware that they can happen. Like actual peanuts, boy’s “peanuts” a.k.a. testicles are not protected by a hard shell. Minor injuries rarely have long-term effects. However, some injuries to the groin area at a young age in development can have long-lasting implications.
Examples of serious testicular injury are testicular torsion and testicular rupture. Testicular torsion is when the testicle twists around, cutting off its blood supply. It's rare, but when it does happen, it is an emergency and you need to see a doctor right away. Testicular rupture is another type of rare testicular trauma. This happens when the testicle receives a forceful direct blow or is crushed against the pubic bone. Testicular rupture is very painful and causes swelling in the scrotum, nausea, and vomiting. Surgery is necessary to fix the ruptured testicle.
Some boys choose not to wear a cup because the hard plastic athletic cups can be uncomfortable at times. However, athletic cups are important pieces of protective gear to protect against rare, but painful injuries to the testicles.