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

hi prof

i am heading to muschaweck's center in 2 weeks for surgery.

i am wondering how things are going.

i am also very seriously wondering what your symptoms were that your tear was so bad. my injury happened almost 2 years ago and after about 6 months the pain was so bad i could not walk.

today i can do some hiking and whatnot but bending down to pick up things is painful, or more like, i feel too much pressure in my lower back (L5) and groin that i pretty much avoid it. i get pains in my sciatic, L5, groin, and taint after certain activities. then the pain may gop away with stretching, or just over several hours of rest.

i imagine that i have a very bad sports hernia due to the pains and suffering for more than a year and a half. i have seen improvement via the physical therapist and exercises/stretches, but definitely nowhere near 90% better.

did you have any similar experiences? i am worried that i too would have to stay in munich longer. and i don;t have that much cash left after all this time with misdiagnosis and mistreatments...

thanks a lot!

johnny

Hi Guys,

I am threading in here if it's ok. I have had a 5 week injury that is slowly looking more and more like osteitis pubis or sport's hernia that ocurred after hauling 500 lbs of water over a 30 minute period. I am small 41 year old man with a fairly strong frame/build. Unfortunately I have a chronic disability of multiple chemical sensitivities and other pre-existing neurologic problems that prevent me from traveling. I live in Santa Fe, NM. I am about to follow up with my surgeon tomorrow who ruled our inguinal hernia and I was also treated for epiditimystis to be sure. My chiropractor does not think it's osteitis pubis because the pubic symphisis is not tender on palpation, though it's not something he really treats. My main symptoms are pain in the right testicle, pain through the inguinal ligaments on that side as well as hip and sometimes lower right back. Frankly sometimes it can go up and down my whole right side. I also have some pain up and down the shaft of my penis on the right side that feels like a pulling sensation. Is this consistent with Sports Hernia or do you think I may have a very bad groin strain with injury to the Cremaster muscle? I have the intersting and less than fun experience of increased pain after ejaculation though paradoxically relief as well sometimes. I guess I am wondering if I wil be able to find anyone here locally who knows about Sports hernia or osteitis pubis. Also anyone had any experience with acupuncture? I did get some relief for a few days after my last treatment but ironicaly my acupuncturist is out now recovering from eye surgery. I may need to see if there is anyone at UNM in Albuquerque who knows about this stuff if the eventuality is surgery. I'd want to make damn sure they know how to fix this if I go that route. Anyway, any thoughts are welcome. I am pleased (if that is possible) to find other guys with this issue.

Jerry

BTW, is there a gold standard for differential diagnosis between Osteitis Pubis and Sport's hernia?

hi jerry

i had and have very similar symptoms. get it resolved before it gets worse.

i read the book "headache in the pelvis" since i was misdiagnosed with (first) epididymitis then (second)a prostate infection, and those drugs i was given for those conditions made me sick. if you also have chemical sensitivites you should avoid all those lousy antibiotics (especially any that end in "oxacin," such as cipro or levaquin).

the book, although it actually didn't totally apply to my condition, pointed me in the right direction in reseraching musculoskeletal injuries as the cause of my pains. i had been checked for inguinal hernias during my battle; the docs found none. a sports hernia cannot be detected via mri or ct scan since, with a hernia, the injury is detected while standing up and engaging the muscle structures. in an mri and ct scan, one is laying on the back and is very still. there is no way to see a hernia from these tests. makes sense but alas the usa has certain diagnostic tests we must go through in order to weed out other problems. i see this as a big error in our medical system(s) but that is another debate.

an ultrasound can help to detect the injury so try to get your doc to do that!

another thing to try to help is to do some stretches, my favorite (and most helpful) is to do a squat with your back against a wall- only do it inverted- back on the floor, knees bent as much as possible, and place the soles of your feet on the wall. put your butt as close to the wall as possible. hold the stretch for up to 5 minutes, making small adjustments as you stretch. this will help stretch the pelvic floor muscles and will help to relieve some tension on the affected nerves.

after almost 2 years of pain i have seen many doctors who all seem to be clueless. the one thing they did find was a torn hip labrum. my second opinion for that one, a doc who is considered to be one of the best hip specialists in the states, said that the hip is most likely not a problem and that i probably have a sports hernia. he was the first of all my doctors who actually knew what one was. shortly after the visit with him i saw dr muschaweck and it took her no time to diagnose a sports hernia. after seeing 39 other doctors i felt like i wanted to cry with releif at her confident diagnosis. and the confidence was totally different from the other docs here who were certain that i had other problems; dr muschaweck was genuine and she even looked over all of my records and paperwork before she examined me (something i didn't get with the other docs).

anyhow, in the meantime, see if you can get some liquid (pure) selenium to take daily every morning to help. also be sure to eat lots of tumeric and ginger to aid in swelling. i too react badly to many chemicals and in general stay away from things that are unatural or contaminated with chemicals and whatnot.

so far with my physical therapy, i have found about 85-90% relief (some days are better than others); went from not being able to walk a year ago to currently being able to hike in the woods (not too strenuously) and light yoga. similar genitourinary pains due to the nerves that are affected by the injury.

sorry for the winded reply, i do hope it helps point you in the right direction. that book should help get you thinking in the right direction.

i am going to munich in a week and a half to be operated on. i have had a bunch of other surgeries for other things (apparently i tend to gravitate towards dangerous stunts and sports) and this is the first one that i am looking forward to!

Thanks for the in-depth response Johnny.

I am a clinical nutritionist with a masters in same so I only took the antibiotic (doxycycline) after an ultrasound confirmed that the right epiditimys was 50% bigger than the left----I know how bad the floxacins can be so avoided them, but thanks for the alert! Meanwhile I never really felt that the problem was urologic in nature intuitively rather I have felt it was musculo-tendinous. I did get a bit better with the doxy but I think that is because all antibiotics are anti-infalmmatory by degree which makes their use and outcomes confusing clinically.

I guess I am wondering why I would have a sport's hernia eventhough I lifted a bunch of weight (500 lbs of water) over a half an hour. It seems that most everyone else here is much more of a true athlete than I am. I really only hike and lift light weights and do a light gym regime, though all that has stopped for now. I am wondering how I can rule out injury to the cremaster muscle as that coudl be effecting the testicle and penis though my pain sure does go through teh inguinal ligaments and hip to the back.

I have not yet added turmeric which I will start to do immediately as you suggest. I do already take selenium in therapeutic amounts, And I will get teh book you suggest and tahnk you for the lead.

I guess I am wondering why you are having surgery if you have already gotten 85% better albeit it sounds that your recovery was very very slow. YOu must still be pretty impaired in some impoartant ways if you are motivated to have another surgery. I hope you have a smooth surgery and get teh results you are seeking. Thanks again.

Jer

hey jer,

i suggested the book only because it lead me to an understanding of muscle/connective tissue tension and injury and how that can cause nerves in the pelvis and abdomen to be pinched/compressed. that compression can cause the pain and symptoms that you (and I) have. the book is based on a science backed up with psychology. it probably does not fit in exactly with your case (meaning the mind-body "misconnection" that is discussed more than likely does not apply to you) but the other facet of the study, focusing on the muscoloskeletal damage and how that causes the pains and dysfunction.

you and i have almost the exact same symptoms. i thought that my cremaster muscle was teh culprit. sure the muscles may have been strained a bit but after this much time those strains would have been healed.

dr muschaweck described my symptoms dead on. she explained how my injury can cause the symptoms. it was almost surreal considering the 35+ other doctors i have seen over this period seemed like they were from another planet and just could not put two and two together (a sports accident w/ immediate pain + the symptoms of a hernia= injury that might be a hernia). don't go the urological route until you explore the sports hernia option.

it apparently may not take much to get a sports hernia. it can start early on in life and then one day a certain movement/motion/action will cause the hernia to do its thing.

keep in mind that i am no doctor. i only know what i am writing (which may or may not be correct, but i have deeply explored all avenues at this point) due to my own perseverence with getting rid of my pains and gaining my life back. i am basing my master's thesis on this as well.

i think that i am overestimating with my current relief level. last summer i was at a solid 9/10 on the pain level at all times and couldn't walk; it got to that point over a time period of about 5 months. then it started to subside with stretching, light yoga, and some exercise. i also took gluten, alcohol, sugar, and dairy out of my diet to keep things healthy (i too am very into health and nutrition). the pt (deep tissue massage, cranio osteoppathy, etc) helped trememndously! but in the long run it is only somewhat temporary relief.

my symptoms/pains are still bad enought that i cannot do the things i normally do in life, like bending, lifting, and any sports.

she seems to be the best in the world for this kind of injury. meyers might work as well but his sugery is more expensive and invasive, and there have been too many people without releif post-surgery to make me want to take that route.

good luck with everything and i hope this helped. i may be wrong, i may be right; but it is worth looking into this before taking another path and getting any unecessary procedures done by doctors who don't know what a sports hernia is. diagnosis is key, don't let a doctor use your case to educate themselves.

Hi Johnny,

thanks for the lst response. Sorry it's taking so long to get back to you. I saw the hernia surgeon again here who had heard and read about sports hernia---that much impressed me. He said it is possible that is what I am dealing with, but that of course he does not know how to do that type of surgey. Though he also said and I have read and heard from so many others that groin injuries can take months to heal. Your journey has been a long one so I can totally see why you'd be doing what you are about to do to get well.

At this point I have good and bad days with the pain and it does seem very much localized in the testcle more than the muscles the last week or so---this is very frustrating. I did agree to see a urologist though I really don't feel this is urologic in its origin. The part about my right epiditimys being 50% bigger than the left on ultrasound is suspicious of at least injury to that area even if there is no infection. I am wondering if you had scrotal ultrasound and if your pain ever was this stubborn in the testcle or mainly in the other areas? Mine moves around for sure but seems much more to emenate from the testicle itself. What a journey!

All this said I do feel an affinity to the somatic/mind-body things that may be in the book and am looking forward to getting it. I do have a long history of skeletomuscular stuff that can be nagging for months that dissapear spontaneously and amazingly. I am hoping this will be the case with this one as well!

Thanks again. I really appreciate being able to talk to someone who has been through something similar.

hey jer,

i did in fact have 3 scrotal ulstrasounds done over the first 2.5 months of my pain. the left epidiymis was a bit bigger than the right. but of course that can also be due to swelling from an injury (either to the testicle/ep itself or perhaps a related nerve) or a bacterial infection. if they never found bacteria in your urine or other cultures, i would think that a ur would rule out bacterial infection. the drugs probably did their thing by now if there was a bacterial infection.

my pain was at very first the ep on the left side. also hurt in the general area just left of the pubic bone.

also hurt very badly in the lower abdomen/groin in two spots but also on the right side a bit. the pain was pretty diffused although all i could really focus on the most was the testicular pain, as i am sure you and most men could relate.

before long the pain had really spread into the left side of the perineum, the pubic bone, lower back, and an area that i would sort of describe as "deep tailbone/groin." and of course the lower abdomen really hurt. as the pain spread it involved my adductors, hip, and the SI joint and sciatic nerve became extremely painful.

the pain started at a level around 8 or 9, then after 2 weeks of cipro it settled down to around 3. i thought i was all better, and being the outdoors freak that i am, i went on a long snowshoe. got much worse after that.

over the next 4 or 5 months the pain jumped up to a solid 9/10 all the time. as some others diagnosed with a sports hernia have posted, it was nearly impossible to get out of bed without first sort of rolling onto my side. bending over was impossible as was lifting or pulling anything (even to pull the sheets up in the bed). basically anything that required me to engage my core muscles (psoas, abdominals).

the docs (i saw many, many of them, and had Pelvic CT Scan, Lumbar MRI, Cystogram-dont get that one done-, and eventually a hip and SI joint MRI) couldn't figure out what it was. i got many educated (and not-so-educated) guesses as diagnosis.

apparently a sports hernia is something that can build up over a long period of time, and then one incident can happen where it finally becomes a problem (like an accident). then the pain will gradually get worse.

the other areas of my body became problematic since the injury and lack of diagnosis yeilded massive musculoskeletal imbalances. by that point the docs had no idea.

don't let it get to that point if the pain continues or comes back. apparently there is a great doctor in toronto who is decent at repairing sports hernias. i am choosing dr muschaweck because she diagnosed it and she is the world's best at the surgery. 14,000+ surgeries to show for it. it will make be broke but believe it or not it is cheaper and simpler than the sports hernia doc in philly (meyers). so it was a no-brainer for me.

good luck and i hope talking about my own experience has helped you and others.

i will check back and post more after i get the sugery in a week and a half. i'm really excited in case you can't tell.

You have posted sometime ago but I was curious since I felt exactly the same symptoms you have described. My doctor, who is also a good sport doctor, gave me the same prescription as yours. How did it work out? I am almost finish with the anti-inflammatories and he said I could start running slowly on flat surfaces. I am a bit nervous about it.

Does anyone have the phone number to Dr. Meyers' office?

Thank you.

This is a great thread although I wish I didn't have to be interested in it (I admit to not having read every post just yet!!).

My trouble started about 3 years ago when i got a small groin strain and didn\'t rest it. i carried on playing football and rugby until the pain got so bad i had to go to the Dr\'s. He referred me to physio who said he found a real hernia, although an ultrasound failed to spot anything. I was then referred to a specialist at Leicester Royal infirmiry (England) (Mr LLoyd) who has performed hernia repairs to fix 'sports mans hernias' on hundreds of people. I had my left groin 'fixed' (mesh applied, and the inguinal ligament cut length ways), although after 10 months of waiting for the op, the right side was as bad as the left. He said the pain would still be there after 3 months and that i could start jogging after ONE week (i gave it 3). I went back to be seen by people who worked for him and was told to let it heel. i went again 6 months after the op and they said again rest.

The pain is pretty much the same as everyone elses with my abductors being sore for a few days after exercise as well deep inside my groins, however i have not had pain in the 'nether regions'.

Cross training and cycling are OK. Rugby training/hard running work is okish if i warm up properly although i'm not happy. I'm going back to the dr's today (a completyely different NHS trust as i have moved house) and he said we will look at what i had done, and if there is anything else we can do. He again has never heard of the condition or the operation which is a little worrying, although not uncommon by the sounds of it.

I think I could have saved myself much trouble by resting the intial injury and i'm also sure this is how many people got the injury to begin with.

All the best

Gordon

dr william c, meyers, does a adductor release and or pelvic floor repair. i seem to have the same symptoms and you are right, docs i have seen have no clue. this doc is in philadelphia at drexel univ. college of medicine. phone no is 215-7621078

you had the surgery? how are you doing now.

got back from munich the other day.

both sides were affected by a sports hernia. plus a tumor had formed in the left inguinal canal due to lack of diagnosis over the last 1.5 years.

i am totally satisfied with the surgery and am absolutely baffled by the level of care that i recieved over in munich. i had seen 38 different docs (150 visits) for this injury in the states and barely could get their attention and recieved diagnoses ranging from prostatitis to torn hip labrum (funny how 3 minutes in a doc's office can reveal that, as well as the needed surgeries).

dr muschaweck knows her stuff- it is her specialty. over 14,000 successful surgeries cannot be wrong. she has fixed hundreds if not thousands of pro athletes and all are in their sport again in a short time. very minimally invasive.

i had it a week ago and i am walking around with minimal soreness. unbelieveable.

i have heard the other docs are good but have varied results. compare the costs. my surgery for both sides wa just over 10 grand in munich. and i got to go to beer gardens afterwards. i was served grilled rainbow trout in my plush room just after surgery. nurses tended to my every need without the feeling of being in a hospital.

no phys therapy needed. no real anesthesia was needed for the surgery, i awoke during the second one.

overall, i cannot even imagine wanting to go anywhere else for the surgery when all the comparisons are made.

just my suggestion, after much, much research. and i am so glad with my choice. dr muschaweck is world class in many ways.

i will be back into my sport(s) in a week. and that is after a long, long time of no sports or basically anything involving my pelvic and abdominal muscles.

This forum looks like it closed awhile ago, but I wanted to know if you could give me some information on how you saw Dr. Meyer. It seems like he is the only surgeon around that does that particular 'sports hernia' operation. Were you able to get your insurance to pay for that, or did you have to pay for it out of pocket? Any other advice you might have regarding this situation would also be appreciated. Thanks.

Wow, this thread is huge. OK, I'm trying to figure out if what I have may be or be related to sports hernia/gilmore's groin.

I've been injured for about two months now (first noticed on July 5th). The pain, while not running, seems to be located in my upper inner thigh and groin area (around and below the pelvic bone), but I also have tightness above the outside of my knee, and I can sort of flex/feel the muscle or whatever it is that goes behind my knee on the inside of my knee (the very edge of the knee, the contour) - I can't do this on the unaffected leg.

While running, the pain seems to radiate a lot through my leg, including my groin, thigh and knee.

As for the level of pain, I would never describe it as "severe." It is bad enough when I start running that I have to almost immediately stop, but it doesn't affect daily activity too much, walking is usually fine unless I have tried to run recently, etc. and most of the time, when not running or being active or thinking about it, it doesn't bother me too much.

When I flex my abdomens and touch the left side (side of the injury), it is a little sore, but all in all my ab pain is not noticeable and the worst of it seems to be centered below the pelvic bone and in the far upper inner thigh right below that bone. If I press on my adductor in my thigh anywhere below this it feels weak and triggers the pain back in my groin/pelvic corner area. I have no testicular pain.

No pain whatsoever when sneezing, coughing, etc.

I figured that since I was missing many of the symptoms associated here with sports hernia, that this was probably just an adductor strain. So I'm confused by why it has not improved at all in two months (hasn't gone worse...just hasn't improved at all).

Also, the knee tightness stuff may have started after I started swimmiing. I don't clearly remember having it back in early July.

Also I am on strong anti-inflammatories (local doctor, non-specialist prescribed), so that may be why the pain is not problematic though I know I still am nowhere near being able to run.

Thanks to anyone who can help or knows anything about what this be or what I could do.

Hey Brad,

Sounds like a sports hernia to me, but would go to a good physiotherapist / sports injury specialist to confirm. No length of rest, drugs, scans will diagnose or fix the issue if it is a sports hernia/Gilmore¡¦s groin.

Wouldn't take much notice of what any Doc says, and try to stay off the anti-inflammatories. I had this injury for about a year & 1/2 and was past from pillar to post before I was finally given the go ahead to have to operation. All the doc said each time (must have been to see him about 5 times) was just rest it for about 4 weeks and take some ibuprofen¡K.. ¡¥Yeah that worked¡¦¡K.. NOT!.....

My pain was located, inner thigh (groin) mainly right, both sides of my lower abdomen and all around the pubic bone. The pain I¡¦d mark 11/10 at times¡K. Got to the point where I Couldn¡¦t walk / run without any pain and it really affected me mentally. Found it hard to concentrate and work or when out.

Finally was sent to a specialist by the name of Graham Holloway (Swindon ¡V UK) and within about 10 mins he diagnosed what I had thought all along¡K.. Next day had the operation¡K. Was operated on both L&R sides, very painful after, and for the first week could barely walk¡K.. Had / having a hell of a lot of Physiotherapy sessions after¡K. Working on my core & Hip stability/strength, had to change the way I walk & run too.

Most of the stuff you read about this injury are for and about professional football players. So things like exercise and recovery times are way out.

I Had the op on Feb 7th 2006 and it¡¦s now 13th Sept 2006.......7 months on!!!..... I¡¦d say I¡¦m 80% healed at the moment and just about to have my first Footy training session this week.

As far as I¡¦m concerned the operation was a great success and would highly recommend it. Pretty much all the pre op pain has gone and I can actually run pain free now ƒº.

To sum it all up:

Pain:

Pre op pain 11/10

1st week post op pain 12/10

2nd-5th week post op pain 4/10

Now 2/10

Physio:

After, make sure you have physio advise you why u got the problem and how to strengthen the weakened area(s).

Post Op:

You will/may have pain in areas you didn¡¦t think you would or that weren¡¦t operated on, pain in your back and other areas.

Just above all be patient and don¡¦t rush back.

hi injured matt-

thanks for the reply on your injury and treatment.

like you, i had a long (18 mos) of increasing pains and discomfort before finally being diagnosed and treated. i got the bilateral sports hernia surgery done in munich my dr muschaweck.

since it took so long to be diagnosed, things got much, much worse over time and i too was unable to function normally.

it has been 5 weeks since the surgery and i am functioning somewhat better but, of course, these scars are deep and big. i don't expect a quick recovery due to the time i spent out of commission and in agony.

my question to you is, since you were/are an athlete, how long has it been since you have been able to be active again?

i also have lots of pain in my inner/small gluteals and in the perineum, pain that went away (somewhat) before the surgery via treatments by my physical therapist. now that i am post op, i have problems with my pelvic floor tightening up. the pt says that it is due to the body's reaction to the pain of surgery. she also says it is due to the injury being so long lived; the pelvic floor and glutes needed to tighten up in order to have me be stabilized to walk (etc) without the normal functioning of the iliopsoas (damaged in the injury).

anyhow, did you have the same pains along with your sports hernia, and if so, did they go away after your rehabbing your body?

i am anxious to see these pains go away. from what i have read, meyers also treats/fixes the pelvic floor, so i am assuming that others with the sh have also had problems with the muscles of the pelvic floor. the doctor i went to for the surgery did not do anything to the pelvic floor from what i can tell. but she is supposed to be the best.

sorry to sound so confused but i am unsure of what to expect for a recovery time and whatnot.

thanks a lot-

johnny

Jonny and Matt, thanks for your responses.

See, this is the thing I am confused about if it is a sports hernia - I have no agonizing or severe pain, certainly nothing that has impeded normal "functioning." While running, it gets pretty painful - I usually have to stop after a while, but at no point would I ever describe my pain as "severe" "agonizing" or "11/10." I can walk around all day, feel some irritation (this may change after I stop the anti-inflammatories), but nothing too painful and nothing that keeps me from functioning. I could cross train with relatively little pain, but am not doing much of that because I want it to heal faster and feel this might be hindering me. Also, like I said, my abdonimal pain has been minimal so far.

SO I'm wondering whether it's just a much less severe case of sports hernia or something else: a bad adductor strain, stress fracture (I think this too would be more severe), osteitis pubis, a nerve problem, I really don't know what....Or maybe my pain is less severe because I stopped training immediately when I noticed and did not try to run or train hard (and have not since I got the injury.)

The one thing that's sure is I am not getting any better. It seems like seeing most doctors or even sports medicine doctors is pointless with these injuries. I have a phone call appt. with Dr. Meyers on Wed. though.