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

am a female and I had the bilateral pelvic floor repair and releases of the adductors this year with Dr. Meyers. I would say it took me 6+ months to come around. I am probably around 95% better now. I am not sure how Dr. Meyers comes up with his 95% success rate figures (see waves' resposes in this thread). He never followed up with me. Dr. Meyers has been in the news alot lately - Donovan McNabb and now Grant Hill. These professional athletes supposedly come back in 6+ weeks. I doubt the average athlete gets the amount of rehab that these professional athletes do.

It was a long road back for me - certainly not 6, nor 12 weeks.

It is a tough decision whether or not to have the surgery. I am better now.

Emily, What Doctor did the repair ? I live in Melbourne, FL and my groin injury seems to be getting worse over the past 2 months and I'm afraid I may need to try surgery. Yeah, the doctors I've seen don't seem to know what's going on. Hope everything is still going all right with your surgery.

Thanks for any info you can give me, peter.

bump

I have had this problem for 11 years. It took me 3 years to find Meyers and I knew he could help me but he has been extremely arrogant and refuses to help me. I have had surgeries by others but it hasn't helped. I am considering going to that clinic in Germany. I cannot understand why Meyers is so difficult.

I'm not interested in this mesh by Cattey but will fly to Germany to see that clinic. Can anyone tell me if they think that clinic's procedure works? Am tired of begging Meyers even though I am sure he can help. Have spent most of the past 11 years researching this, I even went to Belgrade and had Nesovic perform hernia repair.

I am tired of this injury and Meyer's attitude.

My abdominal wall is stronger but the adductor and rectus attachments are quite inflamed. Oh, and when I mentioned that clinic to Meyers he said we fix their surgeries.

Never met a worse human being.

D@mn - I feel for ya. William is one of the most intense guys I've ever met (as I've alluded to in a prior post) - but he's probably got to tell a number of is liver patients that he can't help them either. Chronic pain is not their worst problem... Not saying it's an excuse for poor bedside manner but playing god has to grate on you.

Anyhow - even his most upper tier patients have a tough time recovering (& why this surgery is no piece of cake):

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/99-11012005-563280.html

I'm sure you saw the article I posted from philly.com on the german doc's procedure; sounds a lot like what Dr. Meyers does (except the op time looks much shorter). I know for a fact a couple of players from NJ's MetroStars made the long throw to have her treatment...

You know, when doc Meyers does is 'hip girdle debility' dog & pony show, he often goes with one of his top doc lapro hip bud's who speak about hip tears after he does the AP chat. There is a very fine line between AP, OP, labrial hip tears and back debility. Hey - after 11 yrs, I'm sure you are a pro - and you must be in a sticky spot. But good hip guys are Dr. Philipon (sp?) at the Steadman Clinic in CO and Dr. Byrd in TN. Keep us posted on how your doing if you go...

For folks just tuning in and going up this chagrinning road - there are 7+ pages linked in these threads; pick back thru and you'll know as much as we do about Athletic Pubalgia...

I had this surgery in July and can now run about 6 miles or so. some days are better than others. I've had more problems with the adductor release that he does. depending on how bad the injury is, you can expect at least a 3 month recovery time. I couldn't even walk very well at first, so the fact that I can run as far as I can is nice.

Myers is the best guy that does this and I'm sure he gets tons of patients and he knows almost right away whether you are a candidate or not. The day I got my surgery he did like 10 others. it takes about 45 min.

if you think you have it, schedule an appt and go see him (if its convenient). it likely won't get any better by rehab/PT or x-training.

Here's the latest with me. Again, a completly undiagnosed injury, but all signs and symptoms point to some version of a sports hernia. I've had this for going on almost 2 yrs with RICE and all that doing zilch.

Decided to run the NYC marathon despite my haphazard training due to the limits of the injury telling me not to.

It was a success in that I finished and met me random goal time of sub 2:50. I went out too quick in 1:20, and then proceeded to fade, but held on for dear life. Felt real strong thru mile 10, then my right groin like clockwork started to flare up. The interesting thing is that soon thereafter my right quad completely locked up, I dont know whether this was due to the shock of the pavement as I do 100% of my runs on trails. And I definitely did notice the difference in surface in my runs around Prospect Park in the days leading up to the race.

Anywho, my left quad followed suit soon thereafter, and it got to the point with about 13 miles left where I really didn't know if at any point they were going to seize on me, and fully cramp. But, somehow they didn't, until I went thru the finish and started walking, and then it got bad. Spent a good 1/2 hr in the medical tent getting iced, they tried to get me on my feet more than once, which wasn't happening, and then finally 4 of them got me up, and then I was walking VERY gingerly to the family meeting area. The stairs for the subway back to my brother's in Brooklyn wasn't pretty or fun, but I made it. So, I reached my goal, runnin a 2:48, and felt like the distance was a good match for me, and it got me pretty excited at the potential, but at the same time, I really feel like I have to have some work done, I can't keep going thru this constant battle I feel like I'm facing.

The german doc seems real interesting to me. Ideally, i'd like to have a doc who seems to have some interest in my case, and the follow up, like Cattey, which maybe Myers doesn't with the sheer numbers he sees. But, bottomline, I really don't care what their personality is, as long as I face the best chances at full recovery. I know I don't have the worse case scenario, which could mean a good chance at recovery? But, I do know i've had it for quite some time, which isn't ideal, as I'm sure scar tissue is developing, and I keep abusing my body pretty good, and i'm facing a long ski season on teles which I've started to think might have been the main contributor in the first place, though I think its most likely a combo of wear and tear with the different sports I play.

Anyways, long winded, sorry. I feel like I'm walking that fine line between still being able to compete somewhat in the events I like to do, but wanting to have work done, and reaching my full potential, and stepping up to the ultra scene. Hopefully, this is buried deep enough so the ultra bashers don't come out and hijack this thread.

So, all of you with this injury, I totally feel the pain, I'm nowhere near sneezing and feeling pain, but I feel it on some level. Keep your heads up. I'm thinking of seeing Myers in the spring, when I relocate back to the East Coast.

ROC

Just had surgery done by Dr Meyers this past Wednesday. In my case, he told me, flat out, that it would have never healed on its own, so it's either have surgery to hopefully fix it (96% success rate) or just never do any sort of activity that i enjoy for the rest of my life. And he didn't know the true extent of the injury until he actually opened me up. So, my recommendation is, if you're out of options - even if he's your first - go see him. It can't hurt things in my opinion. My injury was not getting better on its own, that was obvious.

Regardless, he was a genuine person, highly recommended, very personable. Everybody in the hospital raved about him. will it be successful, I'll find out obviously. But i'm glad i did it. I suppose the recovery is a little long, but at 27, it's a small price to pay for enjoying the rest of my life and doing what i want to do.

Thanks for the report hockey guy. I'm coming to the same conclusion you ended up at. I'm gonna try and see Myers in the spring, i can do alot of the things I love to do, but I'm frustrated at not being able to do them full on. Its a risk, but the percentages seem good, and I'm at the point where i'm willing to take the chance. Please keep us posted on your recovery and post-op happenings.

Just wondering how you are doing now and what did you do as far as rehab?

Does anyone ever really recover from AP after the surgery? Whether it is the surgery from Meyers, Cattey or now the doc out in MN, do we ever recover & are able to resume some level of activity again? I'll be happy if I can run 10-15 week, golf, ski or even just walk a couple of miles.

I would love to hear from some people who don't have ongoing problems with this and what you've done to get on your feet after the surgery as far as rehab & then maintenance. Seems like most of the post here & at coolrunning.com are from people who are still battling this thing even after the surgery.

I just had the surgery on 12/5 performed by Dr. Cattey. I'm really sore & I'm concerned about my rehab because I can't walk more than a mile at a time, super slow pace. Only 2 miles per day other than just walking around the house. Back to work today so a little more active but my gait was so messed up during the last 6 months that I can't walk more than a mile right now without my right knee (behind the knee) getting so tight I have to stop.

Any information or experiences is appreciated.

Thank you.

My 15 year old son had AP surgery with Dr. Cattey 8 months ago.

The lessons I have learned from his experience are:

- It seems to take much longer to recover than advertised (unless you were diagnosed early and have professional pysio daily in recovery.

-Hit the swimming pool 3-4 times a week and stay there until the pain diminishes and strength returns (DON'T RUSH BACK).

- A few weird pains will come and go over the next six months or so(and not always from the site of injury or surgery).

- Go to a good Chiro to make sure you are making a balanced recovery - other parts of your body learned to compensate for your poor gait etc..

- Dig out the Pilates DVD when you can tolerate the exercises. Flexibility and abdominal strength are always good things to work on.

My son has for the most part recovered from the AP and the surgery but I cannot say he is 100% -more like 90% of his pre-injury self.

Good luck with your recovery. The odds are in your favour.

i have had it for 3 years now.my mate pops it back in aswell.push and pull.alot has to do with my pelvis being out of place.

ROC, I wuould suggest going to see Dr. Meyers. 2 years now for you, I wouldn't wait any longer. I was fed up with 6 months of getting the run-around. 4 doctors, nobody could give me a straight answer, just the obligatory - go to therapy for a month and then come back to see me (so you can pay me more $$$$ for a whole lot of nothing). Fact of the matter is, as you've probably learned by reading this message board, very few know about this injury. And those "doctors" that claim to know, probably know very little. Even fewer know how to treat it. Meyers will evaluate you and let you know right away if your're a candidate. He is a genuine person and very personable, as well.

I don't know anything about this woman in Germany. She's

probably great, I'm sure. I simply couldn't afford a trip to Europe for this, especially with a US expert and reknowned surgeon in this country down there in Philly. And Meyers came highly recommened. He did 6 of these operations the day he did mine. He did McNabb 2 days before. He did Pitkanen of the Flyers a few days later. He's done Brian Cox, John Abraham, tons of others. He developed the procedure, along with many of the diagnoses. You have virtually nothing to lose and it's your decision to have the surgery or not. If you can play - or run - through the pain, maybe it's not for you.

In my case, he said it would never have healed on its own. I could golf, I could jog in straight line, but any cutting or lateral movement, with hockey or softball or skiing, and I would see stars if i tried and be writhing in pain on the ground. I would feel a sudden pop, of sorts, in my abdominal and groin and I wasn't willing to give up what I enjoyed.

As of right now, I a day short of 3 weeks post surgery and I'm doing OK. Still a bit tender. But I'm walking normal. I've stretched my groin inadvertently a few times and I feel the tightness, but, I think it's still too soon to tell you that I'm on my way to recovery. God willing, I am, but a few more weeks would be necessary to tell for sure.

sorry this was so long-winded, but I wanted to try to offer some solice for those trying to decide to have the surgery or not. I don't know Cattey - I just know most who have gone with Meyers have returned to full activity. He said, even those that required a second surgery - 6 in all, out of 3000+ - were to further release the adductor because the original wasn't sufficient. So, that's not saying the surgery failed, but just required some additional tweaking, if you will. Odds are in your favor ROC. I feel better just knowing that I did somethign about it. Best of luck to you. I'll keep you guys posted on my progress.

hey Soccerdad, thanks for the info. i'm understanding that pool therapy and exercise is important. but what kinds of things can i do on my own? i'll be following the pt schedule, but you said to hit the pool 3-4 times per week.

just looking for anything to get better really. any advice would be much apreciated.

In response to Hockeyguy.

Following surgery (beginning at week 6) my son was initially following a program of jogging straight lines, running straight lines, then figure 8's, progressing to cutting etc.. However, each time he went beyond jogging he experienced sharp pain. At the same time he was having regular physio (although the physio was really guesswork and the usual ice, some basic stretches and exercises) but was not progressing very well. He decided to try swimming in an effort to stay in shape. He began with running in the water, progressing to threading water and eventually laps. Pushing himself harder each week. Whether it was time itself or swimming or both, he found his strength returning and the incidents of pain diminishing (see earlier post re: post surgery pain). He began core strength exercises with the help of a personal trainer. He unfortunately suffered an achilles injury when he commenced activity on dry land- hence my suggestion to see a Chiro in all stages of your recovery. He played his first game of soccer in over a year last week (7 months post surgery) and got through it OK and had no problems from an AP perspective. Fingers remain firmly crossed that his injury nightmare is coming to an end.

Best of luck and keep the blades sharpened.

after reading this thread, it made me wonder if there are strengthening or stretching exercises that you can do to prevent the problem?

it seems that most running injuries are caused by lack of strength or flexibility in 1 or more muscles.

i have a bit of pain in the area being described in this therad and it would be nice to be able to prevent a full-blown injury.

thanks

Thanks HockeyGuy, Soccerdad and ROC. I've only read a few of your comments and already have gained signicant knowledge about this "Sports Hernia". I'm 36 and played running back in college. Up until about 3 weeks ago I was playing basketball twice a week. I started having groin pain and lower abdominal pain about the first week of November. I'm 5'10" 185 lbs, play hard and am fairly quick for my age, but I think a contributing factor was that I had a very bad "deep" cough for a couple of weeks that might have been Bronchitis of something. Currently I can walk and jog slowly with virtually no pain...any sudden movements though, then it is painful. I love playing BB and have got to find a way to get back out on the court. I live in Iowa and would like to find a doctor a little closer than Philly that has a clue about this...any tips? I'm also wondering how long I should wait to see if this thing heals itself? Any comments would appreciated.