Help with my Sports Hernia or Athletic Pubalgia

Hey folks,

Has anyone had this injury and recovered through pt/rest? I have been resting for the past three months and have seen little recovery.

So far I have seen three different doctors, two massage therapists, and a physical therapist. None of them have really heard of a sports hernia. One of the massage therapist has offered some relief.

The sports medicine doctor I spoke with diagnosed me with tendinitis of the groin and a pulled rectus abdominis. PT said I have a compressed spine. Regular physician believed I had a inguinal hernia, though this was later ruled out after an ultrasound.

In order to recover I have started the holmich exercises and am seeing a massage therapist. Any other ideas?

Please help!

I think I may have had this injury in 1998. But it may never have been diagnosed properly. In fact, no one seemed able to help me. The story is a little long, but here goes....

I think I sustained this injury playing flag football. Not sure about that since I was a ballet dancer also at the time and taking class every day, but the football was not a "normal" activity for me whereas the ballet was. My symptoms came on insidiously at night after a day of doing both activities, so there was no direct association with either.

This injury felt like a groin strain. I did PT for 3 months with no benefit at all but rather only exacerbation. (In retrospect, I was seeing a really shitty PT/PT practice, but I was too young and uninformed to know that at the time.) Over time, I also developed a lot of pain in the lower abdominal area where it conjoins with the upper leg/groin. Unfortunately I was not able to ever rest completely due to the fact my life demanded physical activity participation every day. I was able to "sit out" for about 2-4 weeks (can't remember) but it made almost no difference in my outcome.

Gradually over months and months, this injury improved (statistically speaking, almost any soft tissue injury will improve given enough time), but it constantly resurfaced in many ways for years and years, sometimes very acutely. I also had to quit ballet because I could no longer do anything which wasn't at the barre. All my activities were greatly curtailed.

I had active release technique performed on the pyramidalis muscle with no result about 1 1/2 years later. I think I sought different medical opinions from orthos, PTs, and ATCs here and there over several years of time with nothing really helping. Walking for more than a few miles, even a couple years after the fact, always resulted in pain and limping. It was maddening. I would seem to be totally better for months and then suddenly it would flare up and I could barely walk.

Now before you despair, I should tell you that I also have a connective tissue disorder which probably contributed massively to my extensive issues and which is unlikely to be a problem for you (I was not aware of this complicating issue back then, though). This extra "problem" of mine essentially means I have ongoing and limitless problems with anything related to the musculoskeletal system. So, take heart that your outcome is unlikely to be like mine! I don't want to paint too bleak of a picture here.

One thing which seemed to help greatly many years later was when I introduced multi-planar weight training into my regimen. I was teaching weight training classes and I started doing a series called "The Matrix" which was developed by Gary Gray and Juan Carlos Santana. It really seemed to make a difference.

Here is an article on the topic by Mike Boyle (who I think is a pretty awesome strength coach and have taken numerous seminars from him, so I am very familiar with his work).
performbetter.com/webapp/wc…

He also has a link to "part 1" in there. I haven't tried his approach (via collaboration with Gray Cook) but if you need any help understanding what he recommends doing, send me a pm and I can help you out. His progression is geared toward more traditional power athletes, so you may not need to do everything per se.

Coreylee, I walked the same path you've walked for many years. Please stick with it. I had to have surgery to repair the Sports Hernia that doctors said I didn't have. Don't know if it will help but look up Gilmore's Groin, Athletic Pubalgia (the medical term), slapshot gut or sports hernia. That's how I found the answer and I legitimately had to diagnose myself. I finally got a doctor to agree with me after seeing many specialists and going through physical therapy, message therapy, acupuncture chiropractic, pain medication, nerve blocks and lastly exploratory surgery. I had a doctor tell me they don't believe the diagnosis of sports hernia, so they won't treat it. I suffered for 15 years before I finally got relief and I was told the exact same things you are.

^^^^^
Suspicious post from brand-new member. resurrecting 4-year old thread.

Had this injury, and it wouldn't go away. They proposed surgery, but that involved inserting often problematic mesh that would have probably meant the end of climbing and potentially other problems. I convinced them, with much effort, to try a cortisone shot. I have always responded really well to those; was 100% healed within days.

I believe I have this from time to time. Yoga Warrior 1 and 2 seem to stretch the area well for me but take it very slow. For me it can clear up in a few weeks or a few months, can stay away about that long too. I had an inguinal hernia when I was young, you will know if it's that, it keeps getting worse until it's poking though within short order, like a few days if you are lifting weights or working your core like climbing does.

Mine started as a groin strain from practicing jujitsu and lifting weights.   Originally I was Still able to continue practicing jujitsu for a few months. Then I had a spasm in my Lower abdominal muscle.  At that point i only practiced for maybe 2 more months until I just couldn't anymore. I've now been out of jujitsu for a year.  I've done physical therapy, had a CT scan, ultrasound, and MRI.  MRI revealed nothing. Doctors dont seem to be able to help me. There are no doctors in Sacramento California where I live that treat athletic pubalgia.  Can someone help me understand what the hell this injury is and how to rehabilitate it? My life has drastically changed for the worse. I can't exercise like I used to and it constantly hurts.

Hello Dan,

To summarize what it is, it is a soft tissue tear (muscle, tendon, ligament) in the groin region.  In my case it was the literal separation of muscle from the bone.  Most people will tear it and heal it and move on.   I kept tearing it and healing it and tearing it again.  So i had to have surgery.  Following surgery I was told told that due to the amount of scar tissue it was never going to heal on its own.

What I dealt with was the ability to run full speed forward, backward and I could even shuffle side to side, but if I did a transition between the two, forward to lateral, backward lateral etc Id crumble.  Twisting and lateral movement killed me.  Heavy lifting killed me, but not always. Its a weird injury because its a deep muscle injury and its very dependent upon certain movements which is why its so hard to diagnose.

I ended up being treated by a University Surgical Professor who happened to treat a lot of the student athletes at Ohio State.  And I had to literally beg to find that doctor.  If you have someone close by similiar, see if you can find success there.  The surgeon assured me this is a common surgery among athletes, in fact there were at least two people after me that had the same surgery,  the same day.  I have been pain free ever since

I know what youre going through and I wish you the best of luck in your quest.  Hopefully this helps.

I am fully healed from this ailment.  I used the Holmich protocol religiously for three months.  I’m back to hard crack climbing, bouldering, and long trail runs.

Pm me if you questions.  

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Buckeye wrote: Hello Dan,

To summarize what it is, it is a soft tissue tear (muscle, tendon, ligament) in the groin region. In my case it was the literal separation of muscle from the bone. Most people will tear it and heal it and move on. I kept tearing it and healing it and tearing it again. So i had to have surgery. Following surgery I was told told that due to the amount of scar tissue it was never going to heal on its own.

What I dealt with was the ability to run full speed forward, backward and I could even shuffle side to side, but if I did a transition between the two, forward to lateral, backward lateral etc Id crumble. Twisting and lateral movement killed me. Heavy lifting killed me, but not always. Its a weird injury because its a deep muscle injury and its very dependent upon certain movements which is why its so hard to diagnose.

I ended up being treated by a University Surgical Professor who happened to treat a lot of the student athletes at Ohio State. And I had to literally beg to find that doctor. If you have someone close by similiar, see if you can find success there. The surgeon assured me this is a common surgery among athletes, in fact there were at least two people after me that had the same surgery, the same day. I have been pain free ever since

I know what youre going through and I wish you the best of luck in your quest.  Hopefully this helps.

Who did you see at Ohio State?

https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/david-renton-md-26678

Thank you