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

anyone who has had this i think i might have it. did it hurt when you guys aqua jog or biked or swam? I feel a pain in my upper/middle inner quad/ ball. feels a little better when i support my nuts when im running. do i have it? i hope not..

There is some new information that i would like to share in this blog. I am still treated in Germany for a 2 year old sports hernia. I have done the surgery a little over a month ago but still have some back issues. I have heard from a top sport specialist here who deals with all the athlets who have the sports hernia and back problems, that most athlets get the sports hernia because they have a shorter leg. And that is the reason for their back problems as well. I have done a standing x-ray and it showed a shifted pelvis and a leg that is 8 milimeter shorter than the other. I was wondering if this information is really true. Did anyone in this site ever have a stading x-ray that showed a different leg length?

Im recovering from myers surgery right now, and after surgery if i heard correctly they said i was supposed to walk almost a mile a day. I can barely walk right now 3 days post op ( it feels like my wound is on fire and hurts like heck). can anyone give me a time table of when i will be able to walk pain free? i had a tear in my rectus abdominus muscle between my belly button and my hip on my left side

sher, for me- no not a literally shorter leg, but a functionally shorter leg. that was/is due to one pelvic anominate moving out of place (in my case the left side shifted anterior and twisted a bit clockwise). hence the si joint pain; those ligaments on the posterior side get strained when the pelvis is twisted at the sij and/or L4/L5/S1.

my leg was shortened because that pelvic twist caused my knee to buckle in a bit and my ankle to pronate and foot point in (pigeon toed). so naturally the leg was "shortened" due to its new setting. but according to my nuclear bone scan, amongst other tests, the leg bones match up.

since getting my leg manipulated, it has been straightened and my weight is held totally differently than it had before. i am more stable on that "shortened" leg than i ever have been in my life before.

i still have pains, but they are intermittent and getting better each week. i just began a homeopathic treatment for nerve issues.

sher, do your nerves near the inguinal canals still hurt?

texas tech

I had the surgery on May 9 though probably not the same as yours (bilateral pelvic floor repair and inguinal on right side) and I'm a bit older than you (41).

I was no way walking a mile a day in three days. I would say that after my type of procedure if you're walking a mile a day in a week you're way above the curve, a week and a half maybe above, two weeks average and if you can't do it in three weeks then maybe cause for some concern. All the way to full recovery you will get MANY pains that will make you question whether the surgery worked or not. They all seem to dissipate after a day or two, remember you're increasing your workload every day from an injured part of your body that got surgically repaired, it is NOT a sore muscle that simply fixes itself in a couple of days.

If you read any of my prior posts I was basically 'all better' in about 8 weeks, was playing my sport, felt only the slightest pain and but then something happened about 10 days ago and I feel about as bad as I did before the surgery (although the pain is a bit different and only on one side).

I don't think I made any mistakes but if I did it might have been in pushing myself (I followed the protocol but maybe the protocol was too fast for me). Dr. Meyers treats a lot of professional athletes, they bounce back faster than 'regular people'. You're young, you're athletic, you probably don't need the same amount of time that many other people do but don't kill yourself, you got plenty of time ahead of you. My prognosis will be whatever it is but I suspect another surgery is at least a distinct possibility; you don't want that in front of you.

Good luck.

WILL

Thanks WillG, i will keep yall updated on my progress. I am 5 days out now and am still taking pain medicine occasionally when it comes on strong and am walking quite often now. I start rehab in approximately 23 and have no idea if i am going to be actually ready or not.

I had a visit to Philadelphia yesterday. I went down because I thought I had taken a pretty drastic step back. I figured I would have a consultation at my appointment time or later, that office is always really busy, and then come home.

Dr. Meyers listened to everything I said and answered all questions. Then he suggested I stay the day to get an MRArthrogram (spelling?) done on my hip with dye (not fun, magnetic fluid injected into my crotch followed by about an hour in an MRI tube). He thought I might have a labral tear which was giving my symptoms. He also gave me two cortisone shots in the area.

He stressed to me that unless the MRA showed real damage in my hip that keeping my activity level up was of primary importance during this phase of recovery from his surgery. He gave me the impression that slowing down or shutting down would result in nullifying the benefit of the surgery to a large degree. Of course, this was something I wanted to hear but didn't expect. He said that he really could not tell me I was in the low single digit minority of failed procedures until six months post op (and it's only been 2.5). As long as it is just pain management and I'm not doing real damage I am thrilled to keep my activity level up.

The MRA showed a small labral tear that he said was somewhat inconsequential (the test is so sensitive that it picks up tears that many people have had for a long time that would never affect them). I also had a pelvic MRI to look at his handiwork from the surgery and he said that it looked fine.

The cortisone has probably taken away half of the pain I was experiencing but the MRA doctor told me that it takes 48 hours to totally sink in and it's not quite been 24.

One thing that really surprised me was how accomodating Dr. Meyers and Marcia were when I was there. Dr. Meyers is in high demand as anyone who has gone through this knows. He gave me real quality time on relatively short notice and then Marcia went out of her way to schedule me for the additional tests that same day while I was there, totally unscheduled and only because of the symptoms I described in the office visit.

Of course the real question is "will I eventually be better" and only time will tell and of course I will report again.

WILL

I am looking for help with this injury. I have the symptoms of a sports hernia, but have not been diagnosed. I currently do not have health insurance, so I have not been to a specialist yet. The three doctors I saw told me no hernia was visible and I probably strained my groin. Does anyone have any exercises, therapies, or anything out there that can help. I am holding off seeing meyers, because of cost. Any advice would help greatly, this injury is really slowing me down.

mtm149@hotmail.com

i probably wouldnt let anyone touch me besides meyers, and most likely you will never get a sports hernia diagnosis because general surgeons that deal with regular hernias do not do this type of injury. Meyers is the guy. it took me a year and a half to find him with good insurance, and i live in a medical hub that gave me the run around and basically told me i was full of shit about my pain and to lay off of it for a year and pop motrin ever 4 hours. a year and a half later i was still in pain and 20 pounds later and about 5000 motrin later and a year and a half without physical activity i was still in pain. a lot of people have it worse than i did, but this is one of the most frustrating injuries to have because of the lack of knowledge from non-sports doctors. good luck man, let me know what you come up with

Thanks. This injury really sucks. Anyone get cortizone shots to help take of this injury. I thought about getting this done to help with pain.

It's interesting you mention cortisone shots. I had them a few days ago when I went to Meyers for a follow up visit. Now I feel like a million bucks but the real test will be when it wears off which could be in a few days or even a few years.

Caution, however. I had surgery for an actual tear on May 9th. My recent pain was caused merely by inflammation from the healing of the surgery. If you have a tear (which an MRI may or may not pick up) I would imagine cortisone will solve nothing, could even make you worse by masking your pain receptors to the fact that you have a need for a surgical repair.

If you don't have insurance, the way they say to treat AP is by shutting it down a while and then gradually trying to pick it up again.

It is an inherently frustrating injury, no doubt, and it is so incredibly easy to get waylaid by your regular doctor, hernia specialists and orthopedists who don't really have experience with this injury, meaning they never even heard of it (I know, I got the blank stares, my best friend in figuring this out was Google). There are probably less than 10 specialists in the country who even remotely know what it's all about and there is no doubt that Dr. Meyers is considered numero uno among those by far.

Good luck. Your best hope is that you do not have AP but something that resembles it.

I have been dealing with a groin issue for about a year now and like most of you on this board are frustrated by this injury and the medical profession lack of knowledge in the area. My story:

I noticed the pain after playing soccer. I would have a sharp shooting pain in my upper groin area. It would last for about 2-3 days which made it hard for me to walk for those days. The pain would go away and then return when I played soccer the next week. I took a break from soccer and when to see my doctor who said it was a groin pull and I should rest for 8 weeks. I did that and I returned to playing soccer and the pain came back right away. My doctor sent me to PT for 8 weeks to strengthened my groin/ab area and after I was done I returned to soccer and the pain still was there. I then moved to a new state and saw my doctor and he sent me to get an MRI of my lower back which they told my I have spondylolisthesis (crack or a not correctly formed lower vertebrae) in my lower back which I already knew. The neurosurgeon this was most likely the cause of my pain, which I doubt.

Currently I am not playing soccer and do not feel pain unless I play soccer, shovel snow, push with the outside of my left leg on a heavy object (I only have pain in my left leg).

Is this a sports hernia? What should by next steps be? What kind of doctor can help me out. I am in Pennsylvania, should I contact Dr. Myers. I am extremely frustrated and any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Shawn

delpy88@yahoo.com

shawn

you are lucky to be in pennsylvania, go see dr meyers for sure.

Ditto Johnny. You're lucky you live in PA. Meyers is one of the two most well known AP doctors in the world, the other being in Munich. Call his assistant Marcia Horner (215) 762 1078. Given what you've gone through already, the fact that soccer might have brought this on (soccer and hockey are the two most AP conducive sports) and that you live in PA a consultation, whatever comes out of it, is a no brainer.

Does anyone have any exercises or therapies that have helped with a sports hernia? And will exercising make the conditiong much worse? I will try anything to try and fix this.

sorry, matt-

wish i could help you.

i did feel better pre-op for about a month or so after i had stopped all stretching, and kept on increasing the hiking and swimming. but, once i got to germany, and spent 2 days walking all over just before my sugeries, i was in a lot of pain.

i *think* that a pt or doc will tell you to work on core strengthening and to take lots of vitamin b and nsaids. but only trying it out will tell you if it makes it better or worse.

feel better and good luck, keep us all posted.

This is a stunning series of articles. ive been in pain from soccer for 6 weeks now and been to 2 surgeons who have had different answers for me - one is surgery and the other is rest. Does any one know of a surgeon who would know more about this issue in Atlanta? thanks guys - this forum really makes me feel that im not going crazy!

Matt,

I was one of the few who went to Meyers and he didn't recommend surgery. He put me on an anti-imflammatory (indocin?) and gave me a set of exercises to try. I improved steadily for about six weeks, but pushed it too hard on one run and here I am another six weeks later in worse shape than ever. I have accepted the fact that surgery is my only course of action if Meyers will do it, and am trying to figure out when I can do it without screwing up the recovery. (I'm a contractor and can't seem to really rest this crazy injury. ) I really felt I could beat it if I gave up playing soccer, but no such luck.

Jeff

Hi everyone,

I wanted to give a brief update as to my progress, now almost 4 months post op.

I'm getting better!

I hung in there with rolfing, acupuncture and an amazing chiropractor who has me strength training using tubing. Very safe and effective means of getting muscles back into shape.

To anyone suffering, go see Meyers for an evaluation. Just do it. I waited a year and a half and in hind sight wish I would've done it much, much sooner.

Healing takes a lot of time and with the help of some "alternative" therapies, I'm a believer that this surgery was the route I needed to go.

Please ask questions, any and all.

Joe