i'd like to know that this blog is serving a purpose. it gives me drive to post more often.
as i do this research i am thinking of all the people out there with similar groin pain. i really am doing this in order to help educate people who are in need of solving this pain when the doctors don't know what to do. in my own injury, if i hadn't done all this research i'd still be screwed because there were no doctors that were able to help. some were not even willing to help since they thought that my condition might have been psychsomatic, which we all know is a heap of crap. any doctor who doubts that the sports hernia exists is only fooling themselves and showing us that they need some continuing education.
so, please post some comments or questions or complaints or whatever. it costs nothing to register to be able to post, and takes only a couple of minutes. to those that did post, i thank you for doing so, it makes me feel like this blog is worth my time by being able to lend a hand to those who need it.
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18 comments:
Of course I'll leave a post, as we have had a similar course post-surgery.
There is no doubt that I am able to do much more than I was pre-surgery. Even though I'm still not out of pain and sometimes the simplest of movements can spur pain, I'm gaining strength, and that keeps me hopeful. I wonder if you are in the same spot? Are you gaining strength despite your intermittent pain?
Overall, I think your blog is absolutely the best resource out there for this injury. Let's Run was a mere precursor for this extremely informative/education resource. I think knowing the anatomy of the groin region is helpful because we can help educate doctors that *could* help us yet don't really understand this injury to the degree you do. I believe there are many great healers out there, that if they knew as much as this blog provides, could really help us along. As you know, seeking doctors to help us through this pain battle is tedious. But I have optimistic hope that with support, knowledge and the right mix of influences we'll be pain free within a year or less.
Thanks for all your hard work on everyone's behalf.
hi april and joe (is this "shoeless"?),
thank you for posting, that makes me feel great that i have been able to help out in any way. my experience was really awful before diagnosis and not so great post-op. but getting better each week. still with intermittent pains.
i just don't think people should have to go through what we have been going through when all the info that doctors need is out there for them to learn.
we got shafted in many ways.
thanks again for posting, i know i'm not alone on this blog
Yes, this is Shoeless! Can't wait to see my chiro tomorrow (who specializes in visceral manipulation and manual therapy. Tackling the ilioinguinal nerve...I'll keep you posted. Today is a bit sore.
Hi there,
Just found this! I have been to lets run and an australian forum but this conversation looks very helpful. I have been suffering from ap since January 2005 and was misdiagnosed for years! I did prolotherapy for osteitis pubis, had physical therapy, manipulation, etc. etc. and then found an ortho who dianosed me with a labral tear in my right hip and then, finally ap (sports hernia). He advises me that I should wait and try to let it heal on its own but I also hear this is not possible. I was an avid runner and now I'm a sluggish anything I can do to stay active person. An olympic athlete advised me that a doc in Phildadelphia does the surgery and she says she is 100% pain free! And running 80 miles a week again. Any thoughts on waiting another year or pursuing the surgery? Thanks! Stacy
personally, i tried pt for a year+ before diagnosis.
i made me feel a little bit stronger but that was it. pain was still there.
just so you know, there have been people with labral tears and sh together. i hear mixed reviews regarding the results from labral tear surgery.
i also have a small posterior labral tear on one side but have been told by several doctors to leave it alone. so i have.
the sports hernia was a neccessary surgery(ies), no doubt about it.
go see dr meyers in philly or see dr muschaweck in germany. they both have good records.
note the longer you go with the injury, the more complicated it can become. my injury blew out in feb 05. i think the pt and my determination to keep somewhat active only made my tears worse and increased the amount of scar tissue. scar tissue = pain in many situations.
feel better!
i seem to have developed symptoms int he last week. thanks for the blog. i am trying wobenzyme for inflamation and rest. i think these symptoms came from training for rock climbing, as i only run 10-15 miles a week.
i was never a runner, developed the injury from other sports and chronic overuse movments from those sports. i also, however, had an accident that caused the big blowout which was the beginning of chronic pain. before that accident, i only had experienced intermittent pains on one side after several days in a row of aggressive sporting action.
climbing in itself, when done enough, is a great core workout because it is slow and controlled. of course, pulling dyno moves and whatnot can lead towards strains and tears if you don't stay in shape for such movements. but a sudden increase in situp activity can help with the overload that leads to chronic groin injuries.
(formerly stat145)
this is my sencond day after self-diagnosing this. i felt a lot better getting out of bed this morning than yesterday. i think the wobenzyme is kicking in, along with zyflamend. i am going to see a very good acupuncturist today, chiro tomorrow (is there thinking that AP could be the result of a pelvis no beign aligned?),a nd hope to see my primary soon to start a process towards evaluation in wetern medicine. i don't want surgery, but want to have ducks ina row in case it needs tog o that route. thansk for having this blog.
this is my sencond day after self-diagnosing this. i felt a lot better getting out of bed this morning than yesterday. i think the wobenzyme is kicking in, along with zyflamend. i am going to see a very good acupuncturist today, chiro tomorrow (is there thinking that AP could be the result of a pelvis no beign aligned?),a nd hope to see my primary soon to start a process towards evaluation in wetern medicine. i don't want surgery, but want to have ducks ina row in case it needs tog o that route. thansk for having this blog.
this is my sencond day after self-diagnosing this. i felt a lot better getting out of bed this morning than yesterday. i think the wobenzyme is kicking in, along with zyflamend. i am going to see a very good acupuncturist today, chiro tomorrow (is there thinking that AP could be the result of a pelvis no beign aligned?),a nd hope to see my primary soon to start a process towards evaluation in wetern medicine. i don't want surgery, but want to have ducks ina row in case it needs tog o that route. thansk for having this blog.
i think that pelvic misalignment can definitely contribute to a sports hernia developing. but then again i am no doctor. however, all the reading i have done has lead me to believe that the imbalances lead to the straining on certain muscle groups which accumilate to ap.
i was thinking zyflamed for myself at one point but never gave it a shot.
Hi Sports Herniac!
I'd like to share my story and questions to see if I'm doing the right things. Luckily the symptoms started in late august '07 and it is now Dec, and I do have a sports med doctor who has diagnosed this as a Sports Hernia; and I've already seen the General Surgeon who has recommened 4 to 6 weeks of "rest", which I take as a stationary bike and elliptical machine for 20 min each, 3 to 4 times per week. I also stretch my hip flexor, adductor and piriformis muscle.
I am now in the process of learning about this injury. Initially, I hurt the hamstring and calf muscles around my knee but tried to stay active. Bad idea, in doing so I did the stairmaster and yoga classes to stretch. It was in one yoga class that I tried to hold a hamstring stretch on my right side too long when I felt the intense strain starting in my groing and running down the inside of my left leg. This was the end of august '07
Thinking it was just a groin strain, I went to see a sports med dr. who prescribed PT for adductor/hip flexor weakness. After some of the worst PT I've ever had (Twice a week, stretching and only ultrasound/eStim/heat/ice) for 6 weeks, the pain wasn't completely gone.
After this, in the follow up with my Dr., he suggested sports hernia and I subsequently saw the General Surgeon.
As I wait, I wonder, without any imaging (no Xray, MRI, anything) can this diagnosis be clear??
My symptoms seem to alternate in description, some days its a muscular "Twinge" in the front of my groin (Hip flexor at insertion) when I walk, esp. up hill or up stairs. Others, it's a nerve type irritation in my inner thigh with occasional "Stinging" where my legs meet my body underneath. And still on other days, I feel great and pain free; which is when I wonder if this is all in my head.
Anyway, I'm nervous about the surgery since I haven't had any before and don't know what to expect. But, from my description, any thoughts on whether this is a sports hernia? Is the nerve "Stinging" I describe the "Sharp Pain" that the symptom description speaks of?
Your blog is the first that I've seen that speaks well to nerve type pain, thats why I came here.
Sorry to be so long, I just have a lot of questions without anyone having given me a lot of of answers.
hi sfbuckeye
i wish i could tell you whether or not you ahve a sports hernia. but it sounds like similar symptoms to what i have/had going on. perhaps the pain in the adductors/hamstrings are caused by strains of those muscles (which can happen in sports hernias). the burning would lead me to believe that it is nerve pain. the innner thigh can be from the obturator nerve, perhaps. the groin pain? i dunno, maybe the nerves i have been mentioning all along on this blog. an mri/ct won't show it. best thing to do is to see another sports med doc that is very respected to get a second opinion to be sure it's a sports hernia. perhaps it would be worth your time to head to philly to see dr william meyers? he is the man for the us diagnosis and treatment, from what i understand.
go to www.letsrun.com and search for sports hernia in the forums, there are lots of people that post there who have lots of symptoms, that never find this blog...
i post there, too.
hope that helps.
Joe referred me here (thanks again Joe). SH, thanks for your willingness to help others. Sounds as if your patience is paying off.
I believe that my 15-year old tennis-loving son has many of the symptoms of a sports hernia/athletic pubalgia. He has been checked out by an urologist, two orthopedists, and a chiropractor. He has rested from tennis for over 2 months, but still gets significant pain in his groin/testicles the next day after even trying a light tennis workout (just hitting groundstrokes). Ultrasound/x-rays show no signs of a problem; he does have tight hip flexors and hamstrings...we're working on that. After some weeks of rest, he can run, even sprint, and even play ultimate frisbee with little or no pain. Feeling better, he has then, as mentioned, tried to hit some groundstrokes, feels okay while doing it, then the pain returns to his testicles the next day and feels as if something more is going on than a groin strain. We believe the original cause of his injury was doing some conditioning/resistance training work in early November...he felt intense pain in his testicles the next day.
We're scheduled to see Dr. Meyers next week. Despite my son's eagerness to get back playing tournaments, I can't imagine him having surgery unless he/we were 100% convinced of a recommendation from Dr. Meyers. We'll explore other treatment options...he does seem to be getting better, but the pain remains. What a mystery. Hopefully Dr. M will be able to shed some light.
Thanks again for doing this.
hi backhand,
i wish i could help more than i can, but i thank you for showing appreciation for my efforts. this can be a tough injury and is not fun at all!
if you are close enough to nyc then let me know, i can recommend someone for your son to see.
a couple of things that i experienced:
1) if there are TRIGGER POINTS in the muslces that are tight/painful, then they need to be dealt with (trigger pt acupuncture, massage, injections) before they can really be stretched deeply. otherwise they could be stuck in a taught cycle of pain
2) good manual therapy can be very, very helpful. a good osteopath or rolfer can work wonders. they probably won't be able to fix a sports hernia. but they can treat muscluloskeletal imbalances taht happen with the injury.
don't get surgery unless he is 100% positive on diagnosis.
i personally have been told that scar tissue is my pain cause, scar tissue from the injury length. more tearing after initial tear. scar tissue in the groin, on the anterior side of the sacrum, can touch all kinds of nerves and cause pain. so can scar tissue in the groin in other spots. surgery, though may not always be the answer for scar tissue- the RIGHT manual therapist can work on it as a first resort.
but in your son's case, right now, he needs a sh diagnosis, hopefully negative.
i can get you to the right diagnostician for this in ny in march perhaps, again, let me know if nyc is an easy otpion.
feel better
Hi, I want to help in anyway I can. I had a bi-lateral sports hernia (a tear on the left and on the right). Fortunately it only took me 2 months to find out what I had. I found an awesome surgeon at the University of Washington Medical Center named Micah Sinanan who allowed me to tell him what my symptoms were so he could confirm I had the sports hernia. The surgery was a success in the fact that I do not feel the horribly pain in my testicles and groin. My advice to anyone who believe they have a sports hernia is to be aggressive in finding a surgeon and if your doctor doesnt believe in a sports hernia (as mine did)then do not take their word. The symptoms are true to what a sports hernia is. After surgery, and you will have to have surgery most likely rest and be patient, it takes a long time for this to heal because blood flow to this area of the body is extremely bad. Also if you exercise, start very slowly, I have found that walking on a treadmill is something I can do and not have it bother me. I have tried other machines like a stair climber that aggrivated the scar tissue and that really caused a problem with the nerves in that area. I began feeling sharp pains and thought that I tore the mesh and reinjured it, but the surgeon explained about stretching the scar tissue that had formed and I began putting a heading pad on it and within a coulpe days it began to settle down and now 2 weeks since the advice it is back to where it was before. Also, and this part really stinks, you may have to come to the conclusion that you wont be able to do alot of the physical activity you were able to do before the injury. This injury really sucks but it does not mean that life has to end. Hopefully my story has given some insight and help. I will monitor this site and respond or help in any way I can. I wish this blog was up and running when I first injured myself.
can you give the names of any doctors along the east coast who understand this condition well enough to give an accurate diagnosis? Thanks in advance. Hope you are feeling better.
If you have a sports hernia (or groin pain in general) and can get to the UK please see David Lloyd...
http://www.lloydrelease.com/david-lloyd/
He is very good.
DO NOT visit Jerry Gilmore.... he is about 20 years behind regarding technology and knowledge.
Take this from someone who's been there and done that and an expert on the subject.
(I'm posting this under every subject heading as it's very important and potentially life changing)
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