Hi everyone-
I live in Baltimore, had the surgery (both sides) in Munich in November of 2008, with a follow-up appointment with Dr. Tucker in Baltimore a few weeks after I returned.
I often thought about coming back here and posting my experience because, in general, folks who have positive experiences or are \"cured\" move on with their lives and don\'t bother to come back to the forums. But its a slow day at work and so I went through all my old internet explorer bookmarks and saw this and realized I never managed to get back here and post.
Like I said, surgery was almost exactly two years ago. I\'m in great form now. I\'m 37, 6\'1\" and 198 pounds. I play soccer three times a week (in an unlimited leage on Sundays, an Over 30 leage on Thursday and pick-up on Tuesdays). In addition to that I weight train twice a week and try to squeeze at least one five mile run in a week. I have absolutely zero pain now. ANd I have no discomfort.
When I got back from Germany, I rested and did no exercise for two weeks. But exactly three weeks post-op I played the full 90 minutes in a soccer game in the freezing rain. It was so fun and since I was running at about 85% speed just three weeks post-op I almost cried from relief. In the second half, I got nailed with a ball right in the groin, right on the incision (where I was still wearing gauze pads). Scared the hell out of me, but I was fine. Six weeks post-op I was back to playing twice a week and ran the annual Celtic Solstice race here in Baltimore (my wife only beat me by a minute and a half and was jelous I did so well so soon after surgery).
I\'d say for the first year after surgery I was riddled with pain/discomfort on and off of various sorts. I had soreness sometimes, sometimes I would think maybe its coming back, sometimes the muscles on the inside of my leg would hurt, sometimes my hip would hurt, sometimes I\'d get nervous about sneezing, I\'d still have to pull my right leg up with my hand to cross my legs, etc. But I just ingnored all that small stuff. I realized the pain was better and I was able to do everything I wanted to do, so if I had a little pain or I need to grab the cuff of my right trouser leg to cross my leg, so be it.
What I didn\'t realize is that after a year, all those niggling pains and concerns were completely gone.
I think Dr. UM\'s surgery is extroidinary. I really feel a huge debt to her. I think the trick to recovering from her surgery is to just get back on the horse and power through it for the first year.
Having said all that, I don\'t think anything in this world is 100%. Regardless of what Dr. Um or anyone else says, there are going to be times when people do not get relief from her surgery.
Honestly, I went to her for surgery with the idea that there was a 90% chance she was goign to fix me. For roughly $10,000 I was okay with those odds. I wanted to kick back on the pitch and leather the ball as soon as I could. I\'m getting old and my days on the pitch are numbered, so it was worth it to me. I\'m super thrilled I did it.
I guess, after reading the last ten or so pages of this forum today, the best advice I could give is that if you\'ve got the money (I didn\'t but the wife and I remortgaged the house) and you want to get back out to your activity ASAP, the odds are definitely worth it. But yes, some of you won\'t get the relief you are looking for. The vast majority of you will though. Feel free to email me any questions. My email is aekbaltimore at gmail dot com
p.s. Dr. Tucker, the doctor that did my follow-up appointment, was one of fewer than five doctors in the Baltimore area that had even heard of SPortsmans groin or athletic pubalgia or sports hernia or whatever. He had never seen a patient who went to Dr. UM. He diagnosed me (cortisone shot to rule out something else, x-ray, MRI) and referred me to the guy in Philly. Instead I went to Munich -- but I still went to Tucker for follow-up. I figured it was better to get a follow-up appointment from someone who know somethng rather than someone who know nothign about the condition. He and a medical student were happy to learn abotu Dr. UM, had me do a few things, said I seemed in great shape, expressed an interest in te size of the incisions (wondering why she does the surgery open rather than scopic or whatever) and honestly, I haven\'t been back to the Dr. since.