sports hernia/ athletic pubalgia

Verhobb: Thank you for your comments on Dr. Brown. I'm researching surgeons and it's frustrating and confusing. There seems NOT to be an accepted, research-based protocol, and so surgical approaches vary widely. Mesh--no mesh, open--laparaoscopic, and on and on. I left an online history for Dr. Brown, and he called me on my cell phone and spent 15 minutes answering every question i could think of. I got 'good vibes' from him--whatever that's worth. Further, he (Dr. Brown) recommended Dr. Myers as being close to me (i'm in NY) having done many more of these procedures and having published his case reports in medical journals.

I called Dr. Myer's office--and was told it costs $500 up front for his exam and 5-10k for his surgical fee (OR fees, MRI, etc, are extra). His office manager told me they would give me the info necessary to file with my carrier (Aetna) but (despite how many of these surgeries they've done) couldn't venture a guess as the likelihood of getting insurance payment.

I would appreciate any personal experiences folks would be willing to share with any AP/Sports Hernia surgeons--including total fees and experience with insurance coverage.

Jay

thanks so much! sorry you still have groin pain. Thats my worry about going through a tough surgery yet to still have pain. Do you feel any differences post op. good luck

About Dr. Meyers - I've been dealing with my sports hernia/athletic publagia for 3 years and have done TONS of research in those 3 years. Meyers gets mixed reviews from the various medical forums and boards I have read. I went to him and was NOT impressed. He is difficult to work with. He is a very fickle man and depending on what phase the moon is in, you'll either get Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde (yes, I'm very sarcastic as I don't know how else to describe the dual personality he seems to have at times). I took my wife with me to the exam and all the tests, and on the drive home she begged me not to have surgery by him. His attitude was that bad. He may be well-published and whatnot, but he is pretty hands-off once he cuts you and has your money - which is now another issue. He is all about the money now. He no longer takes insurance. You either have the cash upfront or he won't even look at you. Yeah, his office will give you insurance codes to fill in your own paperwork for you to fight with your insurance company but they want paid upfront and let it up to you to get a possible reimbursement from your insurance carrier. Someone on another forum asked me to detail my experience with the Meyers visit and I did. You may want to check that out. He is very much from the "old school" of doctoring where HE tells you want HE wants to do to you and you either agree with him or "there's the door". He doesn't like to be asked a lot of questions and if you go in to see him, well-educated and well-read about SH/AP, and start asking intelligent questions, he won't like you. He believes in the mantra of "I'm the doctor, you're the patient...let me make the decisions for you." And while some like that approach, I prefer a doctor that isn't so full of himself that he will interact with you and answer questions and make it more about a doctor-patient relationship. Best of luck in your search for relief from your condition.

@baruch - you said that Dr. Brown in CA recommended Meyers to you because of location. Was he not willing to see you, to be a potential patient of his? Did he say that he does not see patients from the east coast as they can just go to Meyers? I'm thinking of reaching out to him too but would like to know what you took away from the conversation with him. Thanks...

Here's my story. In April 2010 I started getting groin pain on the right side. It would spread across the lower abdomen to the other side and to the outer hips. The pain would increase as the miles increased. Finally last Aug I stopped running. The pain got worse. Walking even bothered it. Sleeping on my side would bother it. I used the ellipitcal for a while but then had to stop that too. I went to PT, had an arthrogram MRI. I had suspected a possible labral tear so we went for that. The MRI radiologist noted I had fluid in 2 of my abdominal muscles suggesting a sports hernia. My ortho surgeon saw a small tear in the labrum. I probably have both.

I would start to feel better at times during the last year but every time I would try to do even a short 10 minute run everything would go to hell in my groin/hip area. So I stopped doing everything. No crosstraining, no fast walking, nothing for months. Just some upper body lifting and some easy core work. Recently I've started feeling a bit better. I've been doing 2 mile runs a couple times a week with no pain. It doesn't sound like much but I couldn't even do that before. Then Saturday I did a 3.9 mile test run. It took about 37.5 minutes. Yikes! But no pain, or very little. Then this morning I tried it again 3.9 but a little quicker 35.5. I do feel a little discomfort but really not that bad. I would be happy just to do a 4 mile run 3 times a week with no pain. I'm 52 now and even though I ran my fastest marathon less than 2 years ago 3:01 I realise that I'm unlikely to get back to that level. Even if I did completely heal which I doubt it would still take about a year just to get close to where I was before. I've lost all fitness. It would be a total rebuild. But like I said, I'll take anything right about now.

I'm hoping I'm one of those stories where surgery was avoided and even though labral tears usually dont heal on their own maybe mine will become asymptomatic or tolerable enough to get in a few miles here and there. I'm just going to go from here. Maybe 4 miles every other day or 2 and see if everything holds up. If so I'll push a little more. Right now I'm in the cautiously optimistic phase. Expecting another set-back. But so far so good.

"His attitude and receptiveness has changed"

Can you expound on this?

I just found another Meyer's victim online who went to see him from NYC, and when he started having continued groin pain after the surgery, Meyers started to cop an attitude with him that 'all was good, all was addressed at surgery, all was taken care of' and that there should be no reason for ongoing pain. Man, what an arrogant and uncaring doctor.

Please tell us more about your experience with Dr. Meyers - good or bad.

Thanks...

MISSING POST - after Tre 7/4/11

There was someone who posted and then deleted, for whatever reason. Thus my comment that says..."reply to [blank]"

Basically, what he said was that he has been to Dr. Meyers in Philadelphia THREE times for THREE surgeries and he noted that

"His attitude and receptiveness have changed as we have interacted at visits and pre- post surgery."

I sure hope he is doing well now as it seems Dr. Meyers may have a history of abandoning patients that return to him reporting ongoing groin pain issues even after performing surgery on you.

Not a good way to treat patients, if you ask me.

Amazing, there are others like me... I was in pain for 1,5 years trying to solve the issue with core stabilization exercises and then decided to do the laparoscopic mesh repair (TEPP) which is in fashion among Greek soccer and basketball players. Well, that didnot go well. 10% or not, I was the case with extreme postop pain in other areas of the abdominals, due to the mesh and the nails. After 1 year of exercises and rehab I managed to reduce these pains and I was left with the original one (as well as two useless meshes for life). I was about to give up and start taking the pills that doctors gave me to deal with "chronic unidentified neurologic pain" but then i remembered Dr.Muschaweck. She really is the latest trend in SportsHernia but i didn't choose her in the first place because she sometimes resects nerves to eliminate the sense of pain. So i visited her and she told me that she does this only in a 5-10% of the cases and that it's not a big issue apart from a numbness in the area (if you search in the internet the percentage switches from 5 to 95%...)But hey, this is a body area very crucial for me and my family...

So my question is: can anyone fill me in on this nerve cutting issue?

P.S: Fuerza, I am as angry as you but dont take it personally, its only business for the doctors. My doctor was sencere enough to tell me pre-op: "I'm best at what i do and i guarrantee I will do it properly, let's hope it will work". Overall, I think that the best way to start with operations must be with Muschaweck's minimal repair and if that doesnt work you can always get the mesh or open your guts and cut your abductors.

Read more:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=559820&page=160#ixzz1SmLvCXrW

Buy your shoes from LetsRun and save 20% everday

http://www.letsrun.com/save

Well, if you went to Muschaweck, all I can say is - "good luck with that."

I went to her, and chronic groin pain came back after 5 months and in the end, she did NOTHING for me. She abandoned me as a patient and dropped me like a hot potato. (I probably should give a 2 year update on my fiasco operation with her)

Just so you know, and anyone else who comes across this, Muschaweck had a medical malpractice lawsuit filed against her back in Jan. 2011. (Go ahead and google it, you'll find it) If that doesn't serve as a warning to go elsewhere for this type of surgery, I don't know what will.

She may be the latest trend, but I will tell you, she has also abandoned pro-athletes that didn't do well with her procedure. They ended up getting a second surgery by US surgeons. Again, if you want to take the chance of not having the operation turn out well and then having her pretend you never existed, go right ahead.

In my opinion, it's all about chasing the money. How many patients can I convince to get my surgery and how many can I line up outside of the OR to get through in a day. It's sad, actually.

All my hopes and prayers for those dealing with a SH, especially those who have been abandoned with chronic groin pain after an unsuccessful surgery.

I am with you Fuerza. My doctor just operated the best greek basketball player and at the same day there were dozens of articles on papers and sites on how succesful this op is. But I have to find a solution for me after 3,5 years of pain. Doctors in Greece put me on Lyrica and if that doesnt work we will go to nerve blocking, but does that really sound permanent? Please tell me, did Muschaweck resect the nerve in your case?

Its a frustrating injury but I learned a lot from it. Heres what happened to me.

For two months I had the symptoms of a sports hernia. Everytime I ran I was in pain. Finally I decided to take a two week break of no running. However, the pain resumed just the same when I started to run again.

Finally my wife convinced me to go see a doctor. Although, I was apprehensive after reading threads on Letsrun about doctors who had no idea what a sports hernia was. So I looked up a local sports medicine doctor who seemed to have knowledge of the injury and made a appointment with him.

The doctor thought it could be a sports hernia and wanted me to try physical therapy for six weeks. So I went and the pt told me that I was weaker on my right side, which was where the groin pain was. So he had me do exercises to strenghthen that area.

Now the first three weeks I didn't see a significant difference. But after about 4 weeks the pain was gone! I could go for a run pain free!

Now everyone is different and I probably caught it before it became a full blown sports hernia. But strength and stretching exercises were the cure for me. Some people may need surgery to cure it but intensive physical therapy may be the way to go for others.

Also, one should look at the causes of such a injury. I believe in my case, the combination of muscular imbalance and the wear/tear of long distance running over a few years, led to this injury. Looking back over those few years, I saw the signs of muscle weakness on my right side but ignored it. However, if I had consistently done strength and stretching exercises it probably would not have happened.

Hope this helps some people. Good luck!!!

Hi Gilmore, have you had your surgery in Greece?

If yes we could discuss our experiences. I had the TEP in Athens as well.

Please excuse this email it is not intended as a commercial post but to provide easy access links to information on our website that has been referenced by other users.

I attach links to explain about the conditions, which also includes interviews with Jerry Gilmore the pioneer of the surgery and Simon Marsh who has replaced him as Surgical Director. The link also gives access to presentations given by our team members

http://www.thegilmoregroinandherniaclinic.co.uk/the-groin-and-hernia/

I also attach a link to an article that we have written about why we do not believe that a mesh repair is appropriate

http://www.thegilmoregroinandherniaclinic.co.uk/approach/second-opinion-and-third-party-surgery/

Thank you

I also think that I have both hip (FAI) and AP . Seeing Dr. Byrd in Nashville for the hip, but with increased research on my end am wanting to do both surgeries at the same time. Any ideas on who to use because there is nobody to do the AP surgery in Nashville if Byrd does my hip. Some Phil Eagle just had combo surgery with Meyers and some other orthopedic specialist - just cannot decide. Seems hard to travel from Chattanooga for big surgery like FAI/ labral tear.

Verhobb, How did your recovery following surgery go? Back to 100%, I hope!

How do you differentiate between adductor strain and sports hernia? I have no abdominal pain

Dear Verhobb,I'd be very interested in hearing from you about your long-term success or problems (let's hope none!) from your surgery with Dr. Brown. I have been in contact with him recently to figure out my problems. There is no doubt that he is a very nice man with good communication. However, I know nothing about the outcomes hes surgical sports hernia patients have.I would very much appreciate your response.

If you have a sports hernia and live in Oklahoma, do not go and see Dr. Totoro located in OKC. Two simple reasons why not to go see him. 1) He does not know anything about sports hernia, he is familiar with inguinal hernia. 2) I didn't have insurance and he took a $200 downpayment before i went in to see him and provided me with no information besides the info that he had already planned to tell even before I got there. I had originally called his office and they confirmed with me that Dr. Totoro has done sports hernia surgeries before. After driving 2 1/2 hours to see him, the only information that he gave me was to rest and if I'm lucky, the injury will go away. He said that he could perform the surgery, but the pain could increase or it could go away, along with the possibilities of getting infected or him accidentally cutting a nerve. The bottom line is that he is heartless and took $200 from me knowing that he was not going to help me in the first place. From research, I concluded that Dr. Brown or Dr. Peterson in CA are well known for their ability to heal sports hernias.

Hi. I posted on the previous thread which I now understand is no longer functioning, so I'm reposting here:

I have to get this mesh out. I had the mesh repair with Dr. Cattey about 4 years ago and then the open repair with Dr. Meyers 2 years ago. Dr. Meyers did not remove the mesh as it was not an issue at the time. However, now the mesh is all stiff, tight, pinching, and really bothering me. And I'd venture to say that the mesh is also causing other muscle imbalances in the area because of its tightness.

My question is...HAS ANYONE HAD THE SPORTS HERNIA MESH REMOVED? AND CAN YOU RECOMMEND A SURGEON? I am hoping that if I get the mesh out the Meyers repair will be sufficient, but I welcome any input on that also.

Thanks so much for your help!