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

I've found the answers I was looking for within this post. I doubt very much I have a hernia, but pain down my right lower abdomen and into my right scrotum and testicle has been getting steadily worse over the past few months. It also hurts upon ejaculation, and with certain movements, but is always constant as a dull referred pain in the testes. I'm not a regular runner, but do snowboard, mountain bike, surf, cross-country ski, and an occasional adventure race (which does involve running and fast-paced hiking).

From all the posts I've read through, I'm pretty sure athletic pubalgia or a sports hernia is what I'm looking at. I've been checked for a regular hernia (turn the head and cough type of test) with nothing found.

So my question, does anyone know of a competent physician in California (Southern California, preferably) familiar with the condition and the required surgery?

Thanks

Bates

bates

hey i don't run either but do sports like yourself that require lots of twisting while "pumping" (ie surf). that is one of the motions that can possibly cause the tearing.

i have recently heard from a very reliable source that the doc at ucla mentioned earlier in this thread is very good, one of the better sh doc options in the world. keep in mind that a sh is very hard to detect unless the doc is experienced. i was checked with the turn n cough method by 6 different docs including a hernia specialist, and none was detected until dr muschaweck, who diagnosed it in her hotel room in 3 seconds.

btw, you should get yourself looked at for postural issues like scoliosis and an anteriorly-rotated ischium (pelvis) on the same side that your testicle hurts. if it hurts in the taint behind your achy nut and along the side, that could possibly be the cause of some of the pains. a ur might tell you that you have prostatitis. if you get that scoped out and they tell you that they find no bacteria but they are diagnosing you as having nonbacterial prostatitis, then seek your answer elsewhere, it might be a muscular/soft tissue problem. that is what happened to me and trusting the ur and others was my mistake. now i have a longer recovery and my surfboard and kayak are sitting with 2 years of dust on them.

email me if you'd like, i can help out with what little layman's knowledge i have...

good luck hope it helps

johnny the original johnny

Thanks for the info... I didn't see a reference to the UCLA doc, but there's a lot of pages of posts in this thread to go through. I'll keep looking.

I did make an appointment with a chiropractor, who is going to try using an "active release technique" on my hip adductors, and lower abdominals insertion. I'll post the results of that after the appointment.

My general surgeon said that i tored my rectus abdominis or however you spell it and it has been over a year and I still cant run or do physical activity. I feel helpless and he wont do surgery on me and said it would take a year to heal but it has not healed much at all. I need to talk to you or hear some kind of feedback on what to do because my general surgeon is considered the best in arlington but yet stomach has not healed at all.. someone help me or give me some advice.

i think i have a sports hernia wrote:

My general surgeon said that i tored my rectus abdominis or however you spell it and it has been over a year and I still cant run or do physical activity. I feel helpless and he wont do surgery on me and said it would take a year to heal but it has not healed much at all. I need to talk to you or hear some kind of feedback on what to do because my general surgeon is considered the best in arlington but yet stomach has not healed at all.. someone help me or give me some advice.

Arlington, Virginia?? If so, Meyers is your best bet. He sees most of the patients out of the DC area.

Im from arlington texas.. but i would do anything to be normal and run again, i dont care where i would have to travel. Being in pain everyday just plain sucks. Can the rectus abdominus naturally heal or does this sound like a sports hernia type ordeal?

i think i have a sports hernia wrote:

Im from arlington texas.. but i would do anything to be normal and run again, i dont care where i would have to travel. Being in pain everyday just plain sucks. Can the rectus abdominus naturally heal or does this sound like a sports hernia type ordeal?

First of all, the sports hernia (athletic pubalgia) refers to an injury at the insertion point of the Rectus Abdominus and the pubic bone. I don't believe it is technically a rectus abdominus tear. It presents as groin pain and can lead to other problems in the adductors, etc...

If that is what you have, there is some considerable debate as to whether it naturally heals to point where you can return to sport 100%. Meyers says and has written that for most patients it will not heal to that point, and in the past it has ended many careers. His surgery is designed to return athletes to their sport. It is not necessary to live a normal pain free life. Start reading up on AP and see if that sounds like what you have.

I think I might have a Sports Hernia, but it is too early to tell. I'm really hoping to get through my 15 week outdoor season without injury. If I DO have a sports hernia, will I likely be able to run through it this season and get worked on in July?

I guess what I'm asking is, does this injury prevent you from running, at least in the early stages (first 3 months or so)?

i hope not-

i think the only person who can answer that question is you. symptoms, cause, location, and severity of sports hernia vary greatly. if you have it you may get through the season with negligible pain, or it might become unbearable. only you can feel/sense what is going on in your body. this thread is more about what to do if you think or are sure that you do have it.

best of luck.

I thought that I had one last year, was hurt from July-December, but it eventually (very slowly) healed so I guess it wasn\'t one since they are rumored not to heal on their own.

I hope not wrote:

I think I might have a Sports Hernia, but it is too early to tell. I'm really hoping to get through my 15 week outdoor season without injury. If I DO have a sports hernia, will I likely be able to run through it this season and get worked on in July?

I guess what I'm asking is, does this injury prevent you from running, at least in the early stages (first 3 months or so)?

osaru is right, only you can be the judge. But understand that AP is not a static condition. The longer the athlete persists in the sport with the injury, the worse it gets with other problems developing. Meyers told me he's identified 18 unique syndromes under the AP umbrella. Some athletes present multiple syndromes, making the surgey more complex and the recovery rate slightly lower.

Good luck

hurt bradley-

i remember seeing your name frequently back in older posts. congrats on your recovery, that must be very exciting.

update: today is day 10 since my operation with dr. muschaweck. in short, i feel great. the intial soreness/bruising/swelling around the incision area has gone done a lot in the last few days. i have went on short, light jogs the last two days with very little discomfort. also, when i squeeze my legs together i don't feel the pain that was always present before surgery. needless to say this is all very exciting (knock on wood). i'll post again in a couple weeks.

A little help with 'sports hernia' diagnosis here, please.

I've had all sort of left leg problems in recent years, including a lot of pain and tightness in the hip flexor / itb / hamstring.

Whenever I run more than 45 minutes, I start to get pain in my lower abdomen on the left side.

Does that type of symptomology sound like this condition? Would it be like a 'sports hernia' injury to not hurt right away, but to start to hurt after that amount of time?

Should I just focus on strengthening my lower abs?

Only found this site though the powers of google, but I’m intrigued by what has been written and how I can relate to it.

Here is my story:

18 months ago I tore my abductor muscle in my left leg, had three weeks off running- and whilst I was off had a nasty fall on my back, which resulted taking another two weeks off.

I decided to come back running slowly and noticed that me back/groin/hamstring/gluts were in agony every time I went training. I went to see a chiropractic, who promised me that I would be back running in a couple of weeks-pain free. I carried on training and nothing really got any better- the pain subsided but it was always there in the background. I also noticed that my left leg felt a little shorter and noticed I was off balanced. A few months later, I decided to go and get a new pair of orthotics, ones with a left heal raise, as the podiatrist has noticed a difference in leg length. I gave theses new othotics a whirl, and they didn’t make any difference so I decided to see a rheumatologist specialist in Sheffield and get my orthotics levelled out again. I’m seeing him in a few weeks time.

I can run, but I just don’t get the flexibility, and the chiropractice feels that I the stiffness caused in the groin is affecting the pelvis, which in turn is affecting the SI joint and putting it out of place, and making it tilt- causing the leg length imbalance.

The groin always hurts when I squeeze my legs together, and I always have problems when doing core stability when trying to raise my leg. I also have problems when I lie on my side and raise my left leg.

My abductor just feels tight all the time, with limited movement, and it’s always sore after training. The left leg is much weaker that the right too.

Do you think I have a sports mans hernia, and what’s the difference between that and abductor release?

Ive skimmed this thread a bunch, but I have never really come across anything about a threshold while running with a hernia.

So I am wondering how much were you able to handle and what kind of success(or limited success) did you have before you got everything taken care of.

The reason I ask is becuase my insurance will not cover the operation until october because it was pre-existing. Now I am trying to figure out what I should be able to get done when it comes to training and maybe racing some until october.

Also I should mention that my pain is in my groin area

.

I left my email address so a reply through email or this thread would work. Thanks for any replies.

lemon-lyman -

in answer to your question, sports hernias are typically insidious, so if the onset of pain is slow then i would suspect sports hernia. in my case i began to feel slight, dull pain in the testicles/groin area last summer but didn't think much of it, but then the pain became worse in the late fall. sports hernias really vary among individuals, so your slight pain might stay slight forever or it may blow up into unbearable pain tomorrow.

but they are not always insidious - check out clips (google) of donovan mcnabb or nomar garciaparra "going down" with sports hernia injuries during sports matches.

in answer to a later question about sports hernia surgery vs. abductor release, i don't really know but i do know that dr. meyers in philly seems to be a big fan of the abductor release, while dr. muschaweck in germany is not. as i understand it the abductor release is pretty major and requires a significant amount of recovery time. perhaps this is one reason why dr. muschaweck avoids it -- she is all about the quick recovery time.

Since many of you have this injury and know the movements your sports require I would like to explain my son and see if what he does could have caused this injury.

My son doesn’t run or play sports. He is 11 years old and is a High Functioning Autistic. He does a twisting and spinning motion most of the day. If he is happy he is jumping up and down and spinning. If he is walking or running he will go a few steps and jump and spin. If he is mad he jumps and spins and when he is mad he jumps and spins with great force. Think of a soccer player when they head butt the ball except he will continue the motion through a full spin.

The surgeon said yesterday that he has all the “classic” symptoms of a hernia but she can’t feel one. So tomorrow we go for an ultrasound.

I was wondering if he would be capable of getting the injury this thread talks about considering his twisting and spinning.

What do you think?

Thanks

rena-

from what i can tell through all this research is that the sports hernia is more or less a congenital issue. that means that either a person is supseptable for getting the injury or not, i think it is due to an issue(s) with collegen in the body.

the motion that usually causes the initial tearing is that of extension at the hip (usually over extension) and then flexing (like in a situp). usually there is also a twist involved while doing the motion. the pubic bone acts as the fulcrum for the movement.

the debate regarding the congenital thing will probably go on for a long time. my guess is that a certain percentage of those with this congenital defect are athletes, thus tend to do those motions more often, and therefore get recognized for the injury more than non-athlets. but, obviously, non-athletes often do the same motions as in any activity from shoveling snow to playing frisbee to moving heavy items.

there are a few forms of therapy that can help out with both the autism as well as mechanical balances within the bones and muscles, and may aid in the diagnosis or treatment of those pains. such would be a cranio-osteopath or perhaps a very experienced rolfer. if they are good then thwy will know to be very careful around the sensitive area(s) when examining.

the sports hernia is an ellusive diagnosis. you might as well start off by going to the absolute best sports medicine doc you can find, even if it requires travel. that is how most guys and gals who have gotten the diagnosis have come to conclusions of what to do about it.

as you can tell, most docs are clueless and may not be up for the challenge, and really cannot tell what is going on in five minutes of seeing a patient.

if you can, go see the docs that many have written about on this thread.

hope it helps and good luck.

john

Hey this goes out to Johnny who had his done in Munich and anyone else who has had sports hernia surgery. I had my left side done three months ago and still have pain in my lower abdomen when doing sit-ups and leg lifts that were apart of my therapy, which at eight I had to discontinue and start over because I developed sports hernia on the right side. My question is does anyone including Johnny still have adductor pain when squeezing there thighs together? Which I still have and was one of the reasons I sought help!

Johnny what kind of injections was DR.M talking about, my doctor, Dr. Brunt here does the surgery for most NHL players and is now talking about an injection into the nerves and cortisone injection into the adductor tendon!! I was a high level athlete before the surgery and he is shocked to why i still have pain. I know three of my good friends who play pro soccer had theres done by dr. m and only one had to have the injections but he was not really sure why! Sorry for the length just frustrated at three months out!