• sher
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/12/2007 9:44PM - in reply to johnny
      • sher
      • I am a women and I have a sports hernia, it was diagnosed after 21 months of suffering. I have an unstable left leg with pain runnin down the leg from the s.i. joint and pain running down the inner thigh from the addcutor being pulled. I was seen by Dr. Meyers and he offered to do surgery. I was wondering about this German doctor, is she better than Meyers? she supposedly has this new method of doing a sports hernia repair. WHO IS BETTER??????? HELP!!! NEED TO MAKE A DECISION.
    • johnny
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/14/2007 10:04AM - in reply to sher
      • johnny
      • that is debatable, but from my point of view-
        muschaweck sees people from all over the world and those operations are her specialty. she apparently is the most minimally invasive. she is cheaper (well, at least for me). i recommend her due to all those stats, but you might have insurance for meyers, etc...
        i have read that meyers is also top notch, just as you have. all i know is all i read. i did trade a few emails with him and he seemed very nice, genuine, and offered to see me after an mri.

        with such a long duration, like i had, also with the hip issues, and sij problems, you should start tending to those imbalances while you do your search. the operation is more than likely absolutely necessary to fix your overall condition.
        i went a long time as well and developed all kins of muscle imbalances via compensations while my core was so damaged. chances are these compensations happened from previous knee injuries on one side, the same side that has hip issues. my sij on the same side is locked/fixed.
        so far my best relief has been acheieved via manual therapy after the surgeries, i wish i had begun that before the surgeries to get a head start.
        good luck
    • not much fun
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/14/2007 10:13AM - in reply to johnny
      • not much fun
      • my pain originated from the back which made me surprised to learn it was a hernia, painful no matter what
    • sher
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/14/2007 3:00PM - in reply to not much fun
      • sher
      • The back effects the front and the front effects the back. thats what is so frustrating about this injury because you legs carry you and if one this is your pelvis is off everything is off.
    • sher
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/14/2007 3:06PM - in reply to johnny
      • sher
      • johnny, did you need an adductor release? because dr meyers told me i need one. Dr muschawek doesn't do the adductor release. Its so hard for me to choose, i just want the best of the best and money is no issue when it comes to health i sold my rsp's. How are you feeling now? able to walk and do things? my situation is so bad now that i can't even walk outside, my pelvis is completly screwd up. I think that me and you are the only ones who had it this bad. It feels as though my adductor is stuck and i am dying to pull it out. NOT VERY FUN AT ALL.
    • jeff55
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/15/2007 9:30AM - in reply to sher
      • jeff55
      • Run Daddy
        What's your current status-you must be about 9 weeks out? I go see Meyers Tuesday, and assuming he reccommends surgery, I'll have to decide when to have it. Even if I let go of soccer and running for awhile, I'm a contractor and need to at least be able to walk around the house we're building ASAP after surgery. I'm hoping that if the surgery is on a Wenesday, I would be able to at least visit the site and spend some time supervising by the following Monday, but it sounds likie it might be a good month before I could climb a ladder and a couple before I could lift anything. I now realize that my job requires me to be an "athlete" even if I gave up athletics for fun, so I might as well figure out how to keep having fun too.

        Jeff
    • RunDaddy
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/15/2007 11:13AM - in reply to jeff55
      • RunDaddy
      • jeff55 wrote:
        Run Daddy
        What's your current status-you must be about 9 weeks out? I go see Meyers Tuesday, and assuming he reccommends surgery, I'll have to decide when to have it. Even if I let go of soccer and running for awhile, I'm a contractor and need to at least be able to walk around the house we're building ASAP after surgery. I'm hoping that if the surgery is on a Wenesday, I would be able to at least visit the site and spend some time supervising by the following Monday, but it sounds likie it might be a good month before I could climb a ladder and a couple before I could lift anything. I now realize that my job requires me to be an "athlete" even if I gave up athletics for fun, so I might as well figure out how to keep having fun too.

        Jeff
        Jeff,
        I'm doing well right now. I was on the road all last week but still managed 5 runs (3 in San Francisco and 2 in San Antonio). Yesterday I swam 4,000 yards with a Masters team. The problem I had with my right side (the non operative side) seems to be going away. Meyers said this was probably just some compensation issue that will resolve as I get back into training and get stronger. I still get some aching after workouts, but it's very low grade and seems to be less of an issue as each week passes. What I still have a little problem with is serious ab work, like leg raises. Although I am able to do more and more of that each week as well. I have no trouble lifting heavy things.
        If you have the surgery on a Wednesday you should have no trouble supervising a work site on Monday. I had the surgery on a Friday and was back at work on Monday, although I was very tired for the first few days back. It actually feels better to be walking around 4 or 5 days after surgery than sitting all the time.
        Good luck.

        RD
    • !!
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/15/2007 2:46PM - in reply to RunDaddy
      • !!
      • Hi all --

        No official diagnosis for me as of yet, but several signs point towards (according to others) a sports hernia. The area hurts when I sneeze/cough, is quite tolerable to run on unless I'm twisting/going up hills/going fast, and can hurt to get out of bed or lift both my legs above my chest when lying on my back.

        I have a pretty important race coming up.... Is this something which can be trained through? Is surgery the ONLY option, or can I run the race, and then take a couple of weeks off and let it heal on its own?

        As far as I can tell I'm not worsening anything by running on it....

        Oh, and one more question, just for clarification: many people are noting pain on the pubic bone -- is that the little bony hip bone which protrudes slightly? I have pain there, which initially led to me getting a hip flexor strain diagnosis. Not exactly sure if this is the "pubic bone", however.

        Thanks.
    • johnny
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/16/2007 11:09AM - in reply to sher
      • johnny
      • sher,
        i don't know how to answer that stuff but i do know that dr muschaweck says all sports hernias have adductor pain but not tears.
        i think, but not positive, that when your pelvis gets rotated, i can help cause adductor pains because of the muscle imbalances that happen. you no doubt have muscle imbalance issues. sports hernias cause them as the injury lingers. your hip is most likely off, which can exacerbate the imbalance and cause extra strains on areas like the adductors, pectineus, and rectus abdominis.
        apparently issues with rectus can lead to osteitis pubis. letting a sh go for a really, really long time can generate symtpoms of op or op itself, from what i was told.

        apparently the adductor releases may not be necessary, but the fascial tightening should be addressed. but meyers also has had good results with releases.

        my adductor pain at the origin on pubic bone has gotten better via stretching lightly/yoga, along with manual therapy. go see an osteopath or even better, an advanced rolfer, and maybe that will start helping you.
        but bottom line is, if you have ap, you will more than likely need surgery. the tears in teh tissues will not be repaired on their own.

        also, dr um says the longer you have the sh the longer it takes for the nerves to calm down post-operation. it will take as long as you had it before the surgery.

        johnny
    • jamer
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin", or & 4/16/2007 11:27AM - in reply to my groin hurts
      • jamer
      • I had Dr. Stiegman at CU med center treat mine. He is one of the few west of the Miss. River. Though I have had a couple rough spots I was able to run and train again full time.
    • iPete
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin", or & 4/16/2007 5:44PM - in reply to jamer
      • iPete
      • I am in high school and had surgery for athletic pubalgia from Dr. Meyers in January. I started having problems in October of my sophmore year. After seeing over 10 doctors, I was referred out to Dr. Meyers. It has been exactly 3 months since surgery, and I've been doing everything possible to get better. I just jogged for the first time yesterday, but I don't know if it was too early. Seeing as I don't want to miss my senior year of athletics, since I just missed my entire junior year, I was wondering if anyone has had this surgery and totally recovered. If so, how long did it take and do you have any suggestions for me?
    • runninbud
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/18/2007 3:10PM - in reply to RunDaddy
      • runninbud
      • RD,
        I'm scheduled to have surgery with Meyers on June 6th. I was wondering if he put you on an explicit physical therapy plan or did you work one out with your PT? Also, would you say the surgery was worth it? Do you feel like you can get back to the way you felt before this injury ever occurred?
        RB
    • JPL
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin", or & 4/18/2007 3:25PM - in reply to iPete
      • JPL
      • I thought I'ds chime in again. I had AP and after two years of searching found Meyeres who diagnosed and repaired my AP. He did the repair and an addcutor release on my left side. I am now 2.5 years out and am totally healed. It took me about 6 months to get to about 80-90% and then another 6 months to get back to 100%. I struggled the first 4 or 5 months though mentally. I would start to make gains and then get some pain but in retrospect the pain was likely scar tissue tearing and repairing. I now still feel adducutor tightness and occasional abdominal tightness but it is never really painful, just tight. I could probably be much better about stretching and strengthening (and likely would see that tightness go away)but I am pretty much back to distance running, biking and occasional b-ball. I can do everything i was able to before the surgery. After I hurt myself I was crippled and lost my ability to do much running at all without pain and I couldn't do power stuff like b-ball at all unless I wanted to be sidelined for several days.

        So I guess the take home message is stick to gradual return to activity the surgery and realize that it will take a year or so until you are back at it full speed. You will ahve bout of pain in the surgical area but don't freak. The first 6 months were really hard and the last 6 months or recovery were MUCH better. Anything new will cause minor soreness but that is part ot rehab.

        Good luck all. I am very pleased with Meyers.
    • RunDaddy
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/18/2007 5:51PM - in reply to runninbud
      • RunDaddy
      • runninbud wrote:
        RD,
        I'm scheduled to have surgery with Meyers on June 6th. I was wondering if he put you on an explicit physical therapy plan or did you work one out with your PT? Also, would you say the surgery was worth it? Do you feel like you can get back to the way you felt before this injury ever occurred?
        RB
        June 6th? Why do you have to wait so long?

        Anyway, you will get a generic 6 week rehab protocol. Marcia also gave me a 3 week protocol if I felt up to it. The standard is 3 weeks of complete rest and then start active rehab therapy for 3 weeks. I rested 2 weeks and then started the rehab therapy. I took my first light 20 minute run at 22 days.

        When I talked with Meyers he told me to rest for at least 10 days and then start the rehab protocol if I felt up to it. He said bottom line to just let pain be my guide. He has returned athletes to competition in 3-4 weeks, as amazing as that sounds.

        I would say I'm at 90% right now, almost ten weeks out. I'm running about 35 MPW, although nothing real fast. I'm also swimming as fast and as long as I want. I do get some aching in the area at the end of hard swims, but it is very minor and goes away quickly. Meyers told me after the surgery that i was a very simple and straightforward case of AP, low hanging fruit. I only had it on the left side and I did not need an adductor release. Also, I only suffered with this for about 4 months before the surgery (thanks to Letsrun). So, because of these factors, I think I am able to recover quicker than others.

        Yes, I would say it was well worth it. I do not believe it was healing on its own and I am convinced I would still be inactive today if I had not had the surgery in February.
    • sher
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin", or & 4/18/2007 7:48PM - in reply to JPL
      • sher
      • Jpl: I am scheduled to have the surgery with Dr Meyers in May,I was wondering how long is the pain unberable? When you say that 6 weeks were really hard what do you mean? I am a flight attendant and a former aerobic instructor. I wonder if during the 6 months recovery i would be able to return and do flights. I also wanted to know how long did you stay in phili after the surgery? were you able to fly back? I don't know what to expect after the surgery, i am shitting in my pants.
    • sher
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/18/2007 7:51PM - in reply to johnny
      • sher
      • johnny, I contacted the German Dr. and we started e-mailing each other and finally when i wanted to book an appointment she dissapeared she hasn't wrote back to me in 3 days, I dont know what happened? could it be that she is too buisy for me?
    • johnny
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/19/2007 10:56AM - in reply to sher
      • johnny
      • sher
        don't worry, she is still on it and will get back to you. she performs 5-6 of these a day, 6 days a week. i imagine she also gets hundreds of emails per day.
        i am still waiting to hear back from her from a question i asked several weeks ago. at least she eventually gets back, which is better than most doctors i have met.
        stay patient, it will be worth it.
        btw, she will tell you that you can work again within a week. i don't know about what meyers might tell you.

        i am still recovering but i also have other issues such as a problem with a sacroiliac joint.

        good lcuk
    • sher
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/19/2007 3:58PM - in reply to johnny
      • sher
      • Johnny, how long have you been recovering since the surgery? can you walk freely? i also have s.i. joint problems and sciatica. How long ago did you do the surgery? is you adductor fine now? i feel as though my adductor is stuck.
    • iPete
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/19/2007 3:59PM - in reply to runninbud
      • iPete
      • runninbud wrote:
        RD,
        I'm scheduled to have surgery with Meyers on June 6th. I was wondering if he put you on an explicit physical therapy plan or did you work one out with your PT? Also, would you say the surgery was worth it? Do you feel like you can get back to the way you felt before this injury ever occurred?
        RB
        He gave me a 6 week program like someone said, but for me, that was not the case. At 6 weeks it still hurt to walk a little. It's a little over 3 months from when I had my surgery, and I am still not to the point where I was before I had it done. I am still getting better, but slowly. I will be good one day, then bad the next 2-3, then good the next, etc. At this point, I cannot say it the surgery was worth it or not.
    • johnny
      • RE: Anyone ever had a "Sports Hernia" aka: "Sportsman's hernia", "Gilmore's groin 4/20/2007 8:40AM - in reply to sher
      • johnny
      • it has been 9 months since bilateral surgeries.
        i am about 85% better. i still have issues with the si joint, which is the major problem.
        i also had lots of scar tissue near the inguinal canal esp left side, and that is being resolved.
        again, i went 18+ months before surgery. in that time i went from bad to untolerable pain in the first 5 months, then started to see some relief via some pt, light stretching, acupuncture, and mediation.
        my tissues were already waaay tight due to the pain and dysfunction. so when the surgeries happened, and the transverse muscles were tightened a bit more during the surgery (normal), then i had extra tight tissues. it has taken a while to calm then down since the nerves are still irritated, and get more irritated with using the muscles. that tends to happen when the nerves are so irritated for so long- they take longer to resolve to their normal status.
        i also had a torn meniscus in my left knee for 15 years before i got it operated on, and the operation was a bit botched- apparently that contributed to the muscle imbalances that affected my hip (+ a labral tear that doesn't warrant surgery).
        so, i guess to answer your question, the sh surgery was a success. the other stuff takes longer to get rid of, it takes a very competant pt or a different kind of manual therapist to get you on the right track to resolve the other issues in addition to compensation patterns that the sports hernia may or may not have helped cause...
        as of today i can do some hiking and yoga and feel like i could jog but i don;t want to irritate the si joint and strain it more...


        hope it helps
        johnny