Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin", or &quot

With my sport (gymnastics), after Dr. Meyer's surgery I was personally at my same level as I was before surgery around 8-9 weeks post op, but only until recently (12 weeks) have I trained full time again. Even still I get agitation and have to occasionally take it easy, but it is now stronger than its felt in a good 6 months....

Hi,

Has anyone out there been able to persuade United Health Care to cover AP surgery by Dr. Meyers? UHC currently considers this surgery to be experimental. Any recommendations?

Guys I think this is my problem. I have had this for like 6 years now. If I do a sudden like juke movement in football my groin/testicles hurt. If I do a full force jump while running the same thing, when I go down to sprint and I burst at the beginning it hurts. If I do some twisting movements it can sometimes hurt. If I take my legs and sqeeze them together to where the kneecaps touch and push really hard the pain happens. Sometimes when I bend over or get up it happens. Basically I can do no sports but I can do moderate running, not full speed and not more then a few miles.

Now with that being said I also can not doing jump jacks. I get a pain that shoots up my penis and goes all the way to the tip. Not very fun I ensure you, it hurts bad. Does anyone else have a problem doing jumping jacks? The groin/testicle pain is bad enough, but the penis pain is something else. Its like a weird pain, im guessing a nerve pain or something? It doesnt really feel like a muscle, its hard to pinpoint exactly where the pain comes from too. Its very odd and I cannot describe it really, but I do know it sucks. I have limits on what I can do, even swinging a golf swing full force sometimes can make it hurt. But I have not heard anyone metion the jumping jacks, is it the leg spread motion that hurts it or what? Im scared to try again but because the pain is incredibly bad. Anyone else ever notice a shooting pain in the penis sometimes with this? I hate this injury, I need to fix it. Im not a big fan of surgery, anyone tried any natural healing methods like energy healing? I know that sounds crazy but I know people who have had energy healing like quantum touch done on them and it has fixed some serious problems.

I really doubt it. I have UHC and although I've read this thread for close to a year and have thought about a trip to see Dr. Meyers (only 2 hours) I automatically assumed that those pricks would never cover it. UHC is the provider my company has chosen and I am stuck with them, but they really do suck.

lots of the same pains. you could see a very good osteopath (who does cranio osteopathy) or perhaps a good manual therapist of a different approach.

if you are near nyc i can recommend someone, just email me.

Nice article on Meyers and the surgery for Carrie Tollefson.

http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2008/01/08/513/2008_olympics_countdown_anatomy_project_tollefson_running_toward_beijing

Hello all,

I thought I'd write for self gratification. I had my first hernia surgery in nov. '97 (inguinal sp??). It took a while for residual testicle pain to go away but I recovered and didn't have any problems for about 6 years. Then, in Jan '04 I had the same hernia on the other side and had surgery again. This time I didn't ever recover from the surgery (crappy town, crappy doctor). It hurts to touch the area to this day. All this time I've continued to train and toughed it out but about 4 days ago I felt something pop on the side of my first hernia. I don't know yet if it's another one but the pain feels the same. This time I don't have insurance so I'm screwed.

Like I said in the beginning, this post was for myself. Good luck to those of you who can get repaired and think of those who are left behind. Make every step count!

well I first tore my groin on jun 22, 1994

and after 7 surgeries, 2 in germany I'm a bit better, but not 100 perceent.

so, who did your surgeries?

I went to germany in mid september. Does anyone who went to muchawick have pain directly under their scars. I still do on the right side especially. I also have pain on my rectus abdominus. Also the area above my pubic bone is still swollen and I have a numb sensation that comes and goes based on physical activity where my spermacidic cords pass over the pubic bone. Is this normal? please let me know how your recovery is going related to this.

My first surgery was done by a female doctor named Dr. Johnson in Little Rock, AR, my second was done by a Dr. Raiser in Alamosa, Colorado. Never have any work done on anything in a small town.

I had surgery june 6 and 12, 2006.

I had huge lumps from both surgeries that eventually went down.

She spent almost 2 hours on one side alone and 75 minutes on the other side.

My lower abdomen is less sore 18 months later, but I'm still weak. I couldn't even let water hit me directly in the shower, it was so tender (that was for thirteen horrible years).

I always wonder if there is more damage in there, mainly between both canals to my abominal rectus.

But another factor is my left hip is just stuck. My left SI won't move, even after hundreds of chiropractor adjustments (that did nothing) in the past 10 years.

So once again I don't know if my tight back is causing my abdomen to be weak or my weak abdomen causes my back to tighten up. Right before I injured myself (14 years ago) my butt muscles were so damn tight. I tried every stretch possible, but nothing helped. Then my groin went bad.

Right now I'm doing all kinds of stomach exercises, but something seems wrong. On one hand I am really strong. I can one hand roll out (like you can do with wheelie thing) I do them with one hand on a barbell (that has 2 ten pound weights) while on my knees. BUT if I do an elliptical my abdomen just hurts, even if I try to push through it. So I finally (1 year later) gave up on ellipticals and I'm now using a recumbent bike for 20 minutes a day.

That's so sad, because 14 years ago I was running 10 miles a day at 6 minute pace.

that sucks about having no insurance.

My double surgery in Germany cost just under $11k (today with the weak dollar it would be about 13k), that's for two surgeries on two different days. That also includs dr, meds,...

I have BCBS ppo and they reimbursed every penny!!!

I still had to pay for the flight, hotel (Sheraton), where they do everything and food...

She has an office on the first floor and you stay usually on the 17th floor of the same Sheraton and surgery is done on the 19th floor. The people in her office are wonderful. Andreas is a sweetheart. She just got engaged on New Years and she helped me with the Duetesh (sic) Bank just outside the building. There is a reasonable Chinese restuarant there too. They were so much nicer than any American dr I EVER met. When I injured myself in 94, drs were nasty and mean until they saw the bone loss, and then they freaked out. They no longer were mean, but they were afraid to even examine me anymore.

I have this condition and I've been trying to convince my Army doctors to let me see Dr Meyers.I'm supposde to get an answer in afew days.

My 15-year old tennis-loving son has many of the symptoms of a sports hernia...checked out by a urologist, orthopedist, and chiroprator...he has rested from tennis for 2 months (this is like trying to restrain a racehorse) and still gets significant pain in his groin/testicles the next day after trying a light tennis workout; ultrasound/x-rays show no signs of a problem; he has tight hip flexors...but one thing seems inconsistent with a sports hernia...after some weeks of rest he can run some and even play ultimate frisbee with no pain. As mentioned, when he felt "improved" during the past 2 months and then tried to hit some tennis balls with all of its twisting and turning, he feels okay while doing it, but pain returns to his testicles the next day.

I'm in Fredericksburg, Va, and I haven't found anyone who really familiar with sports hernias. We're at a loss...guess I should call Dr. Meyers? Nothing to lose.

You can email him at william.meyers@drexelmed.edu. Good luck with your son.

I could personally still do all of my gymnastics skills while injured. I was just losing core strength progressively and getting pain with certain resistance tests, and it wasn't getting better. I believe I could run fine beforehand as well, but it was a long time ago so tough to remember.

Keep us updated, especially if you get in touch with Meyers. There are many different ways the injury can occur and I'm sure the symptoms can very to some degree as well.

justintherunner and KentC, thanks for your replies.

Re: Dr. Meyers, contacted the office and am in the process of nailing down appts for an MRI and exam. Will also set a tentative date for surgery. Don't want to go the surgery route with a kid unless there is clear evidence of a tear (I'm sure Dr. Meyers would feel the same way), but, with no sign of a hernia of any kind, I've got a feeling that tendons/muscle have been torn/frayed (avulsion, from what I've read) where it/they attach to the bone.

Took the kid to his second local sports med guy today (from Duke...he's got a good rep in this community). Recommendation was to control the inflamation and wait it out (6 more weeks/6 months/1 yr, whatever). This doctor said the guys who do surgery on this (he had not heard of Meyers) are on the lunatic fringe. (I think that's ridiculous, but does anyone know of an objective critique of Dr. Meyers?) This local doctor said that he has had a sports hernia for 12 yrs...I didn't think he was talking about the same condition as my son. It had the effect of making us more committed to make the trip to Philadelphia.

The kid wants surgery so he can get back to tournament competition asap. I know that the choice of the knife isn't always that simple...don't want to rush into this. I think I've read that Dr. Meyers' success rate was around 90%...pretty good considering how different each individual case. There's the option of just going with PT and the like for a few months...we'll have to see the evidence shows.

To Backand,

I'm a former competitive tennis player who had surgery with Dr. Meyers about 1.5 yrs after my initial tear. No amount of rest alleviated the pain when trying to play tennis...I'd highly suggest getting an ultrasound and MRI to see if there is tearing (likely, from the sound of it). I have to admit that I'm still not 100% after 9 months of recovery, although many people are a quick fix and go on to play sports competitively with no issues. Tennis is an extremely grueling sport and because it's so dominant on one side (serving especially), many imbalances could occur. It's really, really important to retrain muscles so they function in balance...I have a lot of info on this as does our regular contributor, Johnny.

Please tell you son to email me with any questions. He needs support and needs to understand this is a very complex, emotional injury.

joebshoe at hotmail dot com

Greetings.

I, too, am a competitive tennis player. I contributed greatly to earlier threads and everything I said then stands true now (around pg. 10 or so). And I am back to playing solidly at the top of my club, for my age.

And I'm never all that comfy.

Know well the 'spackle the wall' vs. 'rebuild the wall' arguments. Individuals present in greatly different ways (Dr. Meyers own count is 18+) and for a variety of reasons. I think William, albeit still relatively unknown outside this particular community, is one of the finest surgeons alive. You can trust him and in a decision like this - where you *cannot* know everything - you better pick someone you can fully trust.

He success rate is not, however, a generic '90%'; all depends on presentation, your films & your case. He turns a lot of people away. Not everyone is happy. Time may turn you/your son into one of the patient, clever (well read!) and - eventually - fortunate candidates.

Like me.

~waves