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

was it a tenscam or a tens unit?

a tenscam is actually a type of tens unit.

you people are insane, you are bunch of hypochondriacs.

It was a tens unit. I used it on my adductors when they were super tight before the surgery. It seemed to really work for a while but it would always come back. If you are rid of your underlying problems I see no reason why this would not help you.

you're obviously clueless

thanks justin

the one i am talking about is a laser form of neural therapy. its used a lot in europe and a bit in canada and the us as well.

its more geared towards nerves rather than muscle tensions.

i have had nt injections and it helped a lot. but some of those nerves (ie genital branch of genitofemoral) are in really deep, too deep for a needle. that is where this machine apparenly comes in.

Im booked to see Dr. UM, i just spoke with her secretary last night. April 21st is the consultation, and 22 and 23 surgery dates which I am very confident will happen. I am in to much pain to not have a problem! Now i just have to find plane tickets. And johnny, how does Dr. Um go about the consultation and knowing that she will actually proceed with the surgery? I am very confident she will operate, but i always have that feeling in the back of my head like i flew out for nothing. BUT that will NOT happen! I know i need this.

she wont operate if she doesnt have to.

but at least you will be in munich which is an awesome city to visit. plan on making a small vacation out of it.

if youre in bad pain, get there a couple days earlier so you can enjoy the town and beer gardens and whatnot. then stay a couple days afterwards to enjoy more time and let the pain die down postop.

i can recommend a hotel in the haidhausen area, at 33 hochstrasse, i forget the name. its a big chain of hotels but it is nice, and the area is more quiet than city center/old town. access to um's clinic and the rest of the city is very easy. close to the paulaner haus as well as lowenbrau haus. good beer and food.

you can walk there to city center in about 20 minutes strolling along to see sights.

Help

Anyone had surgery and feel worse or no better?

Here’s my history:

Dec 2006 – Pull/Strain (left) groin playing football (soccer). Rest for 6 weeks

Feb 2007 – GP checks for hernia and diagnoses groin pull. Refers me to a physio

Feb-Apr 2007 - PT – Stretching exercises, aggravates groin with pain referring all the way down leg, particularly back of thigh. Any exercise has the same effect with groin/leg feeling incredibly tight and painful for days after. Only solution is complete rest

Apr-May 2007 – Decide to go to Sports Med doc who, after ultrasound (to rule out anything else), eventually diagnoses SH

Jun 2007 – See surgeon who also diagnoses SH. Books me in for laparoscopic (mesh) repair, he cites 85% success rate

Aug 2007 – Surgery

Sep 2007 – Have sharp localised pain. Surgeon thinks it’s the mesh tacks catching a nerve and will eventually settle with stretching and massage. Because of this, can’t really tell if surgery successful

Mar 2008 – Still in considerable pain. Have massaged, stretched, exercised etc etc. The sharp pain has subsided somewhat but now I’m left with exactly the same problems pre-surgery, only now I’m not sure if it’s the surgery itself causing them. Went back to the surgeon who thinks it’s the existing problem and not the surgery. He has no answers and really doesn’t know what to do with me except referring me back to the sports med doc

That’s where I am now, still in pain, waiting to see the sports med doc.

Can anyone offer advice as to what I can do now? Could it be possible that the op has made things worse? How about trying any of the following?

MRI – what does this show exactly?

Xray

Steroid injections

Chiro

Osteo

Alternate healing methods

Particular Exercise/Diet regime

Mesh removal

Going to Germany

I am open to any thoughts.

Thanks

Hello MrGreek,

I had the surgery with Dr UM in November, the consultation consisted of an ultrasound and a physical inspection where it was confirmed I had a SH on both sides.

The following day, I had surgery on the right groin and the next day on the left groin. The hospital where you have the surgery done has a hotel attached which was ok. They even filmed my surgery as they were making a documentary about Dr UM.

I am now back to playing soccer without any pain so have no regrets in having the surgery, it was money well spent.

I hope this helps, if you have any other questions let me know

Ade,

You and I have very similar symptoms although I have not had surgery. I have been dealing with this since late last summer and I'm now starting to see some minor improvement after rest and physical therapy. I play soccer also recreationally and I think I caused this by doing intense kicking drills with my left foot - which is my weak leg. I still have a lot of adductor tightness, but no pain at the moment. I adjusted my physical therapy to include deep tissue massage - which seems to be helping. Recently, I have noticed that hip flexor exercises seem to help me loosen up. My hip really bothers me when I do adductor stretches.

Additionally, I just recently started taking 6-8 grams of fish oils while using arnica for inflammation. I have no idea if that stuff works or not, but nothing else has helped me. I am also seeing a chiropractor to make sure everything is in line. I am feeling better today, but I have had numerous setbacks and it is quite depressing at times - so tomorrow I might write back and tell you how miserable I am. I'll let you know how it goes from here. I don't think my symptoms are as bad as most, but it has been painfully frustrating.

Hmm, I would appreciate any help here.

I am (or was) a runner. This time last year my wife and I had our first child so my 5k training runs would consist of bolting our the door and running hard for any 25 minutes I could scrounge up.

Guess what... I got injured. I would describe it as a tenderness on the left side of my crotch, right where my abs meet my leg to the side of my penis. It wasn't really painful but would get really sore in the 2-3 days after I ran. I would feel discomfort when I ran, but it would go away after about 10 minutes. I just ran through this during the summer and suffered walking around in the next few days (medium discomfort, rarely any sharp pains except when going up stairs).

Life intervened and I completely stopped running from August until November, when I began a half-marathon program. I literally forgot about my injury. Everything was fine until I pushed it on a 10 mile run in January and felt that same old sensation ON BOTH SIDES of my groin. I had also been doing a decent amount of crunch in the previous 3 weeks.

I immediately stopped running and started researching as I realized this was something that I should no longer ignore. That's when I found you guys! I must say, I nearly had a panic attack as I learned about SH's and how surgery may be the only option.

What I am here for is some guidance. I live in a small town in central NM (Socorro) and my local Dr. can't really help other than to say it isn't a hernia (of the turn and cough variety). She said to go see a PT who in turn thinks it is something that only rest will help and then to see an orthopedic surgeon/specialist in Albuquerque.

The problem is is that I called them up and they said, "we don't work on groins." I can't find a single orth. Dr. in ABQ who will (from a small list of 5 based on leads from other Dr's).

Any suggestions on how to find someone who understands this and can look at me with that knowledge? Perhaps I don't have a SH, but I fear being checked out by a specialist who doesn't even know what that is!

At this point, I am just going to go down the list of orthopedic surgeons in ABQ, and then try to find a new general practitioner in ABQ or surgeon (as in someone who at least works on typical hernias).

One other note, I would never describe my pain as debilitating, it feels more like my muscles are bruised or tender. It is just an annoyance but I do not want to run on it. Is that worth surgery? It seems some people on this list can hardly function. Granted, I really miss running (read: I am getting fat and depressed) and can't fathom the idea of not running with my son as he grows up.

Thanks,

Ephraim

EJF,

If you feel confident you have a sports hernia, my advice would be to go see a specialist. The biggest mistake is to tell your doctor or orthopedist that you think you have a "sports hernia" - because most doctors don't know what this condition is to begin with and perhaps not athletic pubalgia. I told my family doctor I had a sports hernia and I got diagnosed with an inguinal hernia and had an unnecessary laparascopy. Later, I went to an orthopedist and he immediately diagnosed me with athletic pubalgia a.k.a. sports hernia. He and the therapists have assured me this can heal through rest and rehabilitation. In reading this thread, it doesn't seem likely but I haven't given up yet. And I am showing signs of improvement through therapy. There are probably some people here who can direct you to a good specialist. But I would try to find a very good orthopedist before making a final decision on surgery.

EJF,

Your situation sounds similar to mine, however, this minor disturbance on either side slightly from the center of the pubic bone has worsened over the years. From all the research that I've done, the majority seem to conclude that eventually surgery is necessary for recovery if your condition is AP...it may not be. PT seemed to work for me for a time - I am meeting with a Sports Ortho next week for further investigation.

Had a sports hernia operation in Munich in June 07. Very very successful my only complaint is that my lower abdominal is still fairly week and i have no idea how to strengthen it. Physiotherapists here in Canada have no idea about those sport hernias or how to rehabilitate them. Does anybody know any exercises for the lower abdominal? My stomack is starting to look like homer simpson's.

thanks.

I was wondering if anyone could give me more input about their surgery with Dr. Meyers? How long they stayed in Philadelphia, how they travelled, how long the recovery was, yada yada....

My surgeon is going to speak directly to my PT regarding rehab. I had a bilateral repair last week. What he tells him, I'll have to wait and see. Have you asked your surgeon what he/she thinks you should do re: rehab?

Sportshernia,

Here's the scoop in regards to surgery with Meyers.

1. Initial consultation, he reviews your MRI's, performs some physical tests to gauge motion as related to pain, then recommends the correct path (surgery or therapy etc)

2. Next day you come back for the surgery...they tag you, prep you, you wait and wait and then the surgery is performed. You wake in pain and they immediately give you some morphine derivitive...stay through the night, they check on you like every half hour...not conducive to sleeping even though you want to.

3. Next morning, you arise, slowly, painfully...and you can leave. (You should leave b/c insurance will charge you an inordinate amount of money to stay longer).

4. I took a cab to the airport and flew home. In hindsight, I would rather have stayed with a friend for 2 days to relax into my body, then leave. It was pretty hard to maneuver through the airport in that much pain. Percoset helps, but it's temporary.

Let me know what else you'd like to know about recovery.

Thanks,

joe

I just visited a Sports Osteo who told me that the osteitis pubis condition can be caused by SH - osteitis pubis is a term for pubic bone inflamation.

He told me that radiating pain to the testicles, adductors and flexor that occur later in the run compared to early in the run are a result of the muscles basically spazzing - the reflex of the testicles retreating into the lower abdomen are also a spaz reaction to the injury.

Anyway, after an XRAY he spotted a bony build up on just right of center on my pubic bone - said this can be a result of the rectus abdonminas (I think he said) pulling away from the bone, which is a type of SH. He ordered an MRI, which he said can often reveal further SH conditions. He also said he has seen at least 10 Sports Hernias and that Dr. Meyers, Cattey, etc are not the only game in town when it comes to surgery. Told me of 2 surgeons in Central Pa who have operated on many soccer players with good results.

I'll report back after the MRI.

I just had a couple more questions regarding how long the recovery period was for you? what kind of exercises you were allowed to do and after how much time? Basically, how long it took you to get back to your sport....sorry for all the questions. Thank you so much