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

Thanks, dh.

Researching on a couple of things, wondering any of you have some comments?

I am having trouble go sleep and get out of the bed, almost cause me insomnia. When I go to bed at night, certain point on both side of groin will be very painful, with some bowel movement, it will soothe. But soon the groin will become tense and painful again, my ball will be painful in the meanwhile. This would go on for 2-3 hours, almost drive me mad. The more active in the day the more intense and harder to get to sleep. And if I try to sleep on my side, the point on that side of the groin will hurt and make it impossible. Interestingly this will happen again when I wake up in the morning, not as intense as in the night, but so painful as to make me not want to get up. Anyone have similar experience? I am 8-9 years into this and been not very sport active for so long, so this may not apply for those just got it.

laparscopic Vs. Open

I am both sides, wondering if Dr. Cattey's lapa will speed up the healing by only cut a small hole and deal with both sides.

Adductor release

Wondering is this necessary for me. I am hoping the mesh will solve it all. Fear there will be some side effect to cut loose the Adductor.

I feel much empowered by this thread and your warm responses.

You can contact my at rockitlk_AT_yahoo_dot_com.

Thx, guys!

dh,

Did Dr Joesting ask for MRI?

I have never took MRI, is MRI for specific location? hip or pubic bone? What I should ask doctor for?

Thx.

guessing, but sounds like a sports hernia. like you, i had the same pains. pain also in perineum kicked in after 4 or 5 months of the initial pains in groin and abdomen after my accident.

you should start to see a phys therapist that deals with trigger points and myofascial release. sounds like you have other muscles that reorganized themselves to make your body work ok without using the muscles that you damaged in your injury. compensatory changes can yield lots of pain, trust me, i know from experience.

check out rolfing- read as much as possible about it. you will learn a lot about imbalances and will probably even see similar imbalances that match your painful setup.

i went through massive compensatory changes before my sh surgeries due to the fact that it took me 1.5 years before diagnosis. i also had knee pain for years before the sh kicked in full force, and testicular pain a few times for a few years before the initial sh blow-out (the testicle hurt after heavy activity). was a sign that my body was trying to adapt to injuries that were not being tended to. with the trigger pt/myofascial treatements, i managed to get about 60% better before my sh were even diagnosed. started my recovery ahead of time, i guess.

anyhow, your symptoms mimic what i went through. get on it before it gets worse. i went to muschaweck in germany, and i think i made a great choice, even without insurance coverage, it would still cost less for me, and she is the least invasive in the world.

hope it helps

john

new symptom: pain in the hip.

for example, when i do the groin stretch (where you sit down and bring your feet in together and lean forward) the left hip (same side as my sports hernia) is very stiff and painful. it's only on the left side, and started about a month after the initial groin pain.

anyone else have this?

Hello, I've been reading posts on this site for some time now and thought I would share my experience to date and possibly get some feedback (I'm currently a pre-surgery patient).

I've had groin pain for almost a year and a half now. I'm a very active person and it's completely changed my life (for the bad). It's absolutely crippled me. I've been to countless doctors, physiotherapists, and ciropractors....I've had multiple ultrasounds, an arthrogram, 2 cortisone shots, and a bone scan....all have come back negative.

I recently visited Dr. Rea Brown in Montreal (I live in Toronto). It took him less than 1 minute to diagnose me with a sports hernia. The solution is surgery. My first reaction was, "Awesome, there's hope that I'll be back to my old self again by summer."

The procedure will be performed as day surgery and i'll only need to be there for 2 nights including a post op the day after. The procedure is done at a private clinic, not at the hospital (Dr. Brown is retired and does this for kicks). I'm not concerned about the cost of the surgery ~$3,000 (my health is worth far more than this).

I know Dr. Brown has performed hundreds of these procedures including on numerous professional atheletes. I'm not too concerned about the mesh vs. other techniques (I've heard nothing but good things about Dr. Brown). He did mention that because my injury is well over 1 year old, there is a chance that I still may have problems because the pain could be permanently written to my brain.

Any thoughts on Dr. Brown's work? How long have others been injured before surgery? Recovery time? Anyone eperience a "phantom limb" phenomena?

Cheers.

Best of luck with your surgery. Your case seems much worse than mine.

Here's my question for this thread. Is it possible to recover from a very mild case of sports hernia?

I have been rock climbing a lot over the past few years and was doing a lot of that at a higher level than I was used to(for me 5.9) this past August in the Grand Tetons. When I got home from the two-weeks vacation, I noticed a mild burning pain in my groin while doing scissor kicks in pilates class. I noticed the same mild pain sometimes when rock climbing, like when twisting to press my hips up against an overhanging rock wall. But there's no pain when I do vertical climbing.

I've stopped the pilates and the climbing to rest the groin. And I rarely notice the pain in my daily activities. So is it possible that my condition will eventually heal on its own?. Or will I have to have the surgery?

same deal for me. hip pain in the backside is apparently common. same nerves denervate the back of hip and side of hip that are involved in the injury.

i had mine for 18 months. the german doctor also said that the long time of injury has left an "imprint" of pain in the cns. suggested injections, maybe get them next month after some accupunture and visceral manipulation to see if that helps first.

i do feel lots better since the surgery but have been a bit worried about the pain that lingers. it can apparently be due to muscular imbalances that happened with the injury as well, or perhaps a combo.

either way, i too am anxious to get rid of this pain. had an ultrasound this morning to see if there is a hematoma or tumor in there as well. extra pain and a painful lump in the abdomen. was there, and painful, before and after the surgeries. so it is probably not related to the actual sh and/or scarring from the injury and surgeries.

so we'll see. muschaweck often sees sports herniacs that have gone for many months before surgery and have gotten through it.

good luck

johnny

test123,j

ozhammers,

Can you continue to post updates? I'm interested in the recovery from Germany. Since it looks like I'll be forking out the cash for this on my own, I might as well get the best surgeon to handle it.

I've got the inner thigh thing going now too. Same side as the SH. I've had the SH bugging me for 4 months or so now. The inner thigh began to hurt about 1 month ago. I think it's all referred from the original injury and my body is trying to compensate. Physical therapist told me it was an adductor strain caused by a weak hip (caused by the SH).

Someone else mentioned sitting up in bed. I am now having to push my upper body up every morning instead of using my abs to lift my body. I've also got referred pain in the center just about the pubic bone. I think this is all caused by the SH that I'm trying to run through.

I would also like to know.....has even ONE person gotten over this by treatment other than surgery?

I've got it too wrote:

I've got the inner thigh thing going now too. Same side as the SH. I've had the SH bugging me for 4 months or so now. The inner thigh began to hurt about 1 month ago. I think it's all referred from the original injury and my body is trying to compensate. Physical therapist told me it was an adductor strain caused by a weak hip (caused by the SH).

Someone else mentioned sitting up in bed. I am now having to push my upper body up every morning instead of using my abs to lift my body. I've also got referred pain in the center just about the pubic bone. I think this is all caused by the SH that I'm trying to run through.

I would also like to know.....has even ONE person gotten over this by treatment other than surgery?

I'm curious to know about this as well. I have read one article that claims time and rest will resolve some sports hernias. But, in my case the opposite seems to be proving true. My groin starting bothering me back in September, but it was nothing more than a nuisance for a couple months or so. I ran a marathon at the end of October without any problem. but by late November things were getting much worse. I too was having trouble getting out of bed and rolling over in bed. I could no longer do lower ab exercises without pain, etc... So in early Dec I shut things down completely and took a whole month off. The symptoms definitely subsided, but the groin never felt right even after a month. It felt very weak and unstable, and would still bother me when I bent down and to my left. After a month I tried a little run. It bothered me slightly on the run, but that evening it was really bothering me again. It's like I had made no progress with a month of rest.

Now I'm in the process of getting a referral to a surgeon. I just don't think this thing is going to clear up with rest.

i think we're all curious on that one. obviously if a sports hernia can heal with rest/rehab we would all opt for that. what we're realizing is that in most if not all cases rest/rehab is not an option if you want to get back to 100%. this is a confusing and disheartening realization - most of us are athletes and are used to our bodies being able to heal itself. in fact i've never heard of a muscle-related injury that wouldn't completely heal over time. until now.

RunDaddy - i have read articles like that too. and if you read back on this thread you will find a couple people saying they recovered without surgery (one person mentioned changing shoes i think, another had a special rehab exercise, etc.) however, i now wonder if they really had full-blown sports hernias. the top experts on this (Dr. Muschaweck in germany, Dr. Meyers in Philly and etc.) all seem to agree that if you have SH it won't go away with rest/rehab. this is substantiated by most of the posters on this thread.

my left groin/left lower ab started hurting back in late november. i completely shut down sports activity and the pain has definitely gotten better in the 1.5 months since. so i tried it in a game of ultimate frisbee (lots of running and cutting) last weekend, and the pain returned quickly. i've been sore and stiff since, and what's worse the pain and discomfort has spread to the right groin and to the left hip/backside area. i guess these are both consistent with sports hernia. when i squeeze my legs together now i feel pretty sharp pain on both sides.

tdott-99 - best of luck with your surgery. do you know what kind of surgical methods Dr. brown uses, i.e. mesh or suture? do you have his email contact info (i'd like to ask him some questions directly)? in response to your question, i know i have heard dr. brown's name mentioned somewhere in this thread, you might want to take 30 min or so and read back.

I'm with you bro. I'm 42 and all my life I've been able to heal injuries with rest and common sense. But this one is different. Very frustrating. I am able to do about 30-40 minutes on the cross trainer without aggravating it too much. Running has become out of the question. I can't swim anymore either. The reaching and pulling of swimming really bothers it as well.

In response to the question of whether there is a non-surgical cure to this problem, I am one success story (although I don't think I'll ever by able to say that the problem couldn't return one day)

Currently age 52 and running 45 to 50 mpw. Competitive as masters runner - 16:00 5K at 45 years, sub 17 at 49 (prior to injury) on similar training.

Injury in June 2004. Multiple consultations with sports doctors, a couple MRIs, CAT scan, bone scans, visits with cancer doctors, blood tests - all the stuff that many on this thread have been through. During this time, I didn't run at all, and didn't cross train at all on the theory that somehow I would heal and since cross training of any type was a strain, I decided to do nothing. OK I admit I hate cross-training but I have the advantage of never gaining weight so that wasn't a concern.

After 10 months completely off, I finally traveled to Philly to see Dr. Meyers after numerous e-mails with him. He recommended I get the surgery ASAP. I asked him if it was worth a try to just start running again very gradually. He said it might be worth a shot (I think he was thinking that it was a little over the top for a 50 year old to be looking for this surgery when, other than running, I was able to conduct all normal daily activities by this point. He suggested that I use a strong anti-inflammatory during the ramp-up and prescribed a 90 day supply of indomethacin (?). He gave me a low likelihood for success but sincerely wished me well.

My self-prescribed ramp up (based on a previous comeback from a stress fracture) was as follows:

First week, every other day - walk 5 minutes, run 2 minutes, walk 5 minutes and then ice for about 20 minutes (right in the groin).

Second week, every other day - same as first week, but run 4 minutes.

Third week - same but 6 minutes of running.

You get the idea. I kept with this pattern until 20 minutes of running and then began to up it in 4 minute increments. The most important thing was to be disciplined about never deciding - hey, I feel great, why don't I just head out for an hour. So write down your plan ahead of time - and only change it if the ramp up is too quick.

During this ramp-up, I ran somewhat briskly at times concentrating on quick turnover - just not for long. I don't know if this was better than slow jogging but it certainly made it feel like I was becoming a real runner again.

I don't remember the exact timing, but within about 6 months I was back to being able to run based on how I felt on a given day. And then maybe another 6 months to feel like I could start to train. I'm planning on running a half marathon (Carlsbad) this weekend (1:20?) and NYC Marathon this fall so clearly I at least have some confidence back that my body will hold together.

The other thing I did during the ramp-up was core strengthening exercises, Pilates ball for desk chair, etc. I didn't have a formal exercise program, just exercises I found on the internet. I also had chiropractic treatments - can't tell whether they helped but I was willing to try anything.

For a younger person, the whole cycle might be a little quicker but for me it was close to year off and then another year to get my body working again. It was very depressing at times during the year off. And there's no saying the problem is totally solved. However, what discouraged me from the having the operation was my impression that there was an occasional negative outcome - as well as the fact that I could pretty much do everything else - and I didn't want to risk the bad result. I might have lost another minute during this time from my 5K but I think that can be pretty much be 100% explained by being older, and also by the speed you lose during a one year hiatus from running.

So at least for now, I would say that if your injury isn't impeding your other life activities, particularly if you're older and your PRs are behind you anyway, its at least worth taking a full 6+ months off to see if you can avoid the surgery, which anyone can see from reading this thread, is not necessarily a cure-all either.

boulderbill,

Thanks for that. I haven't heard of too many negative outcomes of Meyers' surgery, although I'm sure there are some. Every injury is probably slightly different.

If you had known straight away what your problem was and saw Meyers within, say, 6 weeks of the injury in June 2004 would you have taken the surgery then?

I wouldn't even know who Bill Meyers was if I didn't visit letsrun. I'm sure I'd be floundering around in the dark right now not knowing what's wrong with me. But, the way I look at it, if he offers me the surgery I'll probably go for it.

I posted in this thread a couple weeks ago about the importance of the psoas muscle and how a tight psoas can ultimately lead to sports hernias and I’d like to talk a little more about the true causes of SH’s through what I’ve personally experienced.

As a brief background again—I was a competitive high school runner 10 years ago but always had a “hitch” in my stride. One winter both of my rectus femoris muscles began to hurt during every run and I ended up severely tearing my left RF. Apparently my RF’s were the weakest link in my body as opposed to my pelvic floor, groin, etc. If some variables were different I truly believe that I would have gotten a full blown SH at age 16.

Since then I’ve become a competitive road cyclist, but experienced major pelvic balance issues during the past several years. Basically, I never corrected the imbalances that led to my running injury. Through extensive research and diligent rehab, however, I am currently more comfortable walking and more comfortable riding than I’ve been in 15 years.

How bad was my pelvic imbalance?? Very bad- and very painful. My pelvis was literally rotated 2 inches forward and 2 inches up on the right side. My pants and shirts were crooked on my body. I had pain in my pubis symphasis and over a month of steady pain in my left and right adductors/gracilis muscles. How long has it taken me to straighten things out? Over 2 years, and I think I have another year to go to get to 95% symmetry. How functional am I now? About 90%-- I raced a full road cycling season in 2006 and ride upwards of 300 miles a week when I have the time. In November 2004 I could not ride for 2 minutes without pain and I was super super crooked.

So here are some things I’ve learned about pelvic symmetry, psoas muscles, etc:

A sports hernia will develop if your biomechanics are incorrect and you are recruiting the wrong muscles during the running motion. Your hamstrings and glutes and balanced mid-ab area need to absorb the impact during running.

Good biomechanics start literally with your toes and feet. If your toes on your left and right feet do not “grab” the ground equally during a balance test, then your whole chain of balance and proper biomechanics if off.

A functionally short leg or tight psoas is a major indication that there are grand imbalances in your body. Basically your body is using the back muscles, psoas, quads, and adductors to stabilize itself instead of using the abs and glutes.

I keep reading about the adductor release that is involved with SH surgery. This totally makes sense to me—I have extremely tight adductors. This happens because you are stabilizing yourself with your adductors instead of your glutes, hips, mid-ab area.

Running is very bad for the human body. If you add imbalances and the stubbornness to run through pain on top of that, then I can absolutely see how a SH can develop. My imbalances and stubbornness is what ended my running career.

If you get your “blown out” muscle repaired through surgery (could be ab floor, could be RF), you are not cured of your SH. You need to train your body to use the right muscles again. This starts with the toes and feet and nerve signals sent to/from the brain.

In the end, you really need to think about the true cause of the injury as opposed to just focusing on the repair of the symptom. Symptoms = torn pelvic floor, pain in groin, pain in symphasis. Focusing on correcting the cause will ultimately help and cure the symptoms.

The human body is truly changeable can recover from massive injuries. You may experience 6 months of depression and pain before realizing that the body is fixable—but it truly is. It really takes telling yourself that you will work every day to correct the problem and in 2 years you will be 95% recovered.

95% of PT’s, chiros, and other doctors will have no idea what to do with your condition. If I were a dr and saw you in my office I could give you the proper diagnosis: “Your biomechanics are flawed and you have been using the wrong muscles to stabilize your body during running for thousands of miles. This injury and the related pain in your groin, pubis, etc occurred because your weak link in your chain of improper biomechanics has finally given out. Let’s get the tear surgically repaired, and start working on re-training your body to use the right muscles. In about 2 years you will be breaking our 5K PR’s, but you need to be patient.”

Sorry if this post is a bit long of rambling, but I wanted to get some of my personal experiences/thoughts out there. Feel free to ask any questions in this forum and good luck recovering from your injuries.

This is one of the best threads I've ever read. Thanks for all the advice / insight. My issue is consistent with alot of what I've read here. I'm a runner 30/35mpw.

My problem began about 4 weeks ago and came on quite suddenly as I started my daily run. There wasn't a specific incident where I recall injuring myself. This just seemed to come out of nowhere and I haven't been the same since.

My symptoms at their worst (several days after a run) prevent me from sleeping (can't roll over), climbing stairs, even sitting. I feel nauseous (like I've been punched in the groin) and am generally in pain throughout the day. I've noticed after a full week and 1/2 of no exercise the symptoms have largely subsided but I still can't run. Within 5 steps it's like the pain never left and the soreness is aggravated.

I went to a surgeon who diagnosed me with a hernia in the examining room. He said I had a small one but there is no sign of swelling or protrusion in my groin. He recommended surgery or physical therapy. Both options were up to me.

I set up an appointment with Dr. Meyers for later this month. I want to get a second opinion if I'm going to have surgery.

My question is: can a sports hernia be misdiagnosed as a "normal" hernia?

Buckman,

OK, I like it. Good post. I cycle quite a bit as well and do not have any symptoms cycling.

However, can you tell us what kinds of things you did to overcome this?

What are the exercises?

What wieghts did you do to strengthen?

What stretching did you do? Yoga?

I'm not completely convinced that a biomechanical problem caused my issues. I've run over 80,000 miles. Yes, 80,000. I think I'm getting old and my body recovers slower but my head says 3 hard days per week.

I am on my SECOND 'sports hernia.' I got 'past' my first by cutting my miles back to about 15 miles per week and eliminating all fast work; strides, intervals, etc. However, it took me one year from when I noticed it to when I was running injury free.

I got my second bout when I began training for a specific competition last Fall. I began doing intervals and upped the miles to 60 mpw in late summer and began having trouble again. That's when it occurred to me that this issue was similar to IT band syndrome. My second bout was much less painful than the first bout and I am beginning to recover faster. I've had it since November. I am not conviinced that I can get over this by treating it like IT band syndrome (stretching, weights, etc) but I am going to try it. I have also began using DMSO on it with little results.

Please post your 'remedy' or at least summarize it (beyond the biomechanics issue). Many would appreciate it.

buckman,

thanks for the indepth story. sounds like it makes lots of sense for the body setting one up for a full-blown sh.

i do have a question or two-

did your pelvic floor hurt, and experience tightness? the reason i ask- dr muschaweck only repairs the tear in the abdominals. i am sure she knows about the other doctors' approaches and whatnot. i met with her just over a month ago and she feels very strongly that there is not another muscular tear. i am wondering why others "repair the pelvic floor." what would be torn? since the pain in the taint began i started seeing a pt who specializes in the pf, and through her treatments my pf began to feel much, much better before the sh operations. i still get occasional pains in there, on one side, but they are short-lived.

how long did you have a full blown sh before you got your diagnosis and subsequent surgery?

i seem to also follow the pattern of total muscle imbalances. who was to know that i had such imbalances before the injury? dr muschaweck strongly feels that the condidtion is hereditary- meaning, a collogen weakness or dysfunction is what causes people to eventually get the sh, i guess that is why some athletes get it and most don't. we do the same amount of torque to our bodies. notice how some of these people who get them are pro athletes in top shape.

i am imbalanced throughout the hip extensors, flexors, abdomen, groin, etc.. like you , and many others here who probably have not yet been told of any imbalances. i don't however, have the major adductor pain. i do, however, still have pains near the scar, but apparently are not totally related to the scar. one doc thinks i may have torn my external obliques, which is common in the sh. could be a leftover pain imprint with the brain/cns, could be a hematoma, could be a # of things. had the ultrasound yesterday.

but hearing about the long recovery, and the imbalances that you so well describe, gets me wondering if i am just freaked out and the pains are there soley due to the imbalances and the long time of injury before diagnosis and needed surgeries.

i have all those phantom pains in the hip, buttock (like sciatica), groin, rectus, etc... come and go throughout the day, and never hurt all at once. the pain near the scar does coincide with si joint-area pain, though, and often referrs to pf.

sound familiar to your case?

just looking for answers, and to help others with these same phantom pains and sports hernia injuries. seeing as how badly it f%&ked me up, i want to help out as many people as possible to acheive releif, since i can emphasize with those people whose active lives have been ruined by an injury.

this thread is by far the best info on the injury that i can find anywhere on the internet, everyone keep this up!