Anyone out there ever experienced a sports hernia?? Am in the process of getting a diagnosis after dealing with 8 months of supposed hip pain. Have, unfortunatly, had to give up running and modify all other exercising. Am still cycling, swimming, and using the elliptical. Wondering the recovery process/length from this injury??? Have Ironman Florida in November and am beginning to wonder if that is hopeless? Thanks for any feedback!
Contact Dr. Meyers at Drexel University, Philadelphia, ASAP. He correctly diagnosed the problem (Athletic Pubalgia) and performed my surgery, haven’t had a problem since. DO NOT waste your time with physicians who don’t deal specifically with this injury; more than likely, you’ll end up with a misdiagnosis & unnecessary treatment.
http://www.drexelmed.edu/Home/AboutOurFaculty/WilliamMeyers.aspx
Do a search here for sports hernia and athletic pubalgia. It’s been covered extensively, as well as on the letsrun.com forum.
I have an appointment with my surgeon this week regarding surgery for a sports hernia. I’ll keep you updated about how it goes.
I am having difficulty with the same.When resting I have no problems at all. Track workouts are almost impossible. I am able to run/jog about 5-6 miles before any pain. I last on the bike for about 40 miles before I have to stop from pain, hills are the worst. Swimming is no problem, especially in a wetsuit. I get excessively tight and weak in the effected extremity just above the greater trochanter. and in the worst cases it becomes a deep ache. Are you having the similar symptoms? Hope I can get rid of this without much rehab time…
If they are uncertain that it is indeed a sports hernia, have yourself checked by someone knowledgeable for osteoitis pubis. I started having similar pain last October and it is just now starting to improve. Funny thing is that it caused me to stop most of my running six weeks out from IMAZ. Still did the race and got through the run on adrenalin (or so the doc says).
I was diagnosed with rectus abdominus tendonitis by a GP. 'Told me it could be up to a year before it would settle down. A sports doc diagnosed sports hernia, or as some people call it here, hockey hernia. I’m a 47-year-old guy. Physio, stretching, AT did nothing. I don’t have the resources to travel to consult with a surgeon. My original injury was last May. I have mostly come to terms with the fact that I have probably raced my last race. I hope you have better luck.
Totally frustrating injury. I had this, although it turned out to be a pubic symphisis stress fracture, that took about 6 months of time to heal, during which time I did a hell of alot of aqua jogging, elliptical and cycling, all of which actually worked pretty well to keep me fit for running.
Don’t rush into surgery. Many times, it will just…heal. Quick fixes sometimes become regrettable.
Cheers,
Ben Greenfield
Don’t rush into surgery. Many times, it will just…heal. Quick fixes sometimes become regrettable.
I found the opposite to be the case. I had a double Inguinal Hernia, which for many years was diagnosed as a ‘Sports Hernia’ by my General Practitioner; they’re not experts. It’s best to see a specialist surgeon in that area, as in my experience they are the only ones who can really make a value judgement. In the end, he said if I didn’t get it repaired surgically, it would never sort itself out in my case. So I bit the bullet and opted for Laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. It hurt like hell for a couple of weeks after & I was swollen like a melon, but in the long run my ‘mesh’ groin has served me well 
I was able compete fully in Tri 3 months later; I was gentle cycling/swimming after 3 weeks and running after 5 weeks (everyone varies, and I tried to start running too early at first).
If it does need surgery, it’s best to grab the bull by the horns!
Good luck 
The difference here is the unfortunate naming of the malady - a sports hernia is not a hernia at all (ie. no tissue wall has been compromised to allow underlying tissue to poke through). I too have had an inguinal hernia and subsequent laparoscopic repair. While there is no doubt that an inguinal hernia will not get better on its own, a sports hernia is basically a soft tissue injury which may very well get better with non-surgical treatment. I suggest this should be the first option entertained. The critical matter, of course, is a proper diagnosis. Most inguinal hernias aren’t misdiagnosed (and are usually visually obvious), but a sports “hernia” can be many other things.
Good point…if it TRULY is a tear in the abdominal wall, inguinal area, etc. But I had a surgeon who was ready to cut on something that wasn’t even a hernia, which would have sucked. So just make sure, as recommended somewhere else in this thread, that you get a proper diagnosis and rule out other causes, like tendonitis or stress fx.
Cheers,
Ben
I had one 2 years ago. I am pretty sure I did it doing too many leg lifts. I was not able to run at all! I could bike, and swim, but zero run training. So, I did water running. What was weird is I was able to race, Oly distance, but as soon as I went through the finish line, you could not have paid me to run another step. It took many many months of zero run training before it seemed to improve. None of the docs I went to had any idea what the pain was from.
Dave
Some great advice here and in previous topics on here. I’ve never experienced a medical problem where doctors were outright unwilling to listen. I came in loaded with research studies and documentation only to be told that is all a figment of somebody’s imagination… several times.
My already diminished faith in the medical profession was completely shot after this. And I work for a network of hospitals and my best friend is a doctor
Find a doctor that you trust… not necessarily one who insists every odd problem is athletic pubalgia. Then make a decision whether surgery is necessary or not. I went for the laproscopic repair with mesh but no further surgery. Initially I was wishing I had done a muscle cut or something further, but this year it’s been much better. I only experience pain when I’m pushing really hard after a long training build.
Here’s another resource to include along with the giant letsrun thread:
http://sportsherniablog.blogspot.com/
I had surgery last year on 3-4-09 with Dr Meyers and was able to do placid later in the year. I was even racing sprints by april (I was literally pulling out stiches the night before). Recovery is very fast. You are encouraged to start walking the day after surgery. I posted some other stuff on it before but if you want specific info let me know. I did have bi lateral TEARS so they won’t heal on their own without surgery. Be careful of things you read on the internet about it because 99 percent of it is totally worng. Don’t have the lap/mesh surgery if possible (much lower success rate and doesn’t fix the whole problem).
What sort of symptoms/pain are you guys having with a sports “hernia”? Met with a doctor 3 weeks ago after having groin/lower ab pain since october and she just said a groin strain. What are the differences between a strain and a sports hernia? I was going to schedule a follow up visit next week and would like to have them check this out because I still can not run and have not run since January 
An MRI helps to diagnose with the physical exam. I could see one of the tears on the MRI with the buildup of scar tissue from the tears. I had symtoms including abd pain, hip pain and testicle pain. If it is just a strain it will improve with some time off. My doctor thought it was a strain at first too. Even if it was a real sports hernia the best thing would be to take some time off anyway. I took two months off and the pain was worse when I started again. That was how I knew something was really wrong.
What sort of symptoms/pain are you guys having with a sports “hernia”? Met with a doctor 3 weeks ago after having groin/lower ab pain since october and she just said a groin strain. What are the differences between a strain and a sports hernia? I was going to schedule a follow up visit next week and would like to have them check this out because I still can not run and have not run since January
I had the same sort of symptoms for about 6 months, I was able to run but I would get quite sore, it hurt when I rolled over in bed. I saw several physios, some thought it was a strain, other said possible sports hernia. I was refered to a massage theripist who also does ART. After 1 treatment the pain was mostly gone. It turns out that my psoas was the problem and the MT worked on it and now I am fine with only the occasional mild tightness in hip flexors, althought this may be from ramping back up to 7 hr’s week + tempo.
My MT said she has been able to fix several people who were told they may have a sports hernia with massage.
Thanks everyone for the feedback on sports hernias! I have had more than one doc tell me that it doesn’t really exist. Errrr! Had a catscan Monday and an MRI yesterday. Anxiously awaiting results as I feel like I have been injured forever! Resting does nothing to make it feel better.
An MRI helps to diagnose with the physical exam. I could see one of the tears on the MRI with the buildup of scar tissue from the tears. I had symtoms including abd pain, hip pain and testicle pain. If it is just a strain it will improve with some time off. My doctor thought it was a strain at first too. Even if it was a real sports hernia the best thing would be to take some time off anyway. I took two months off and the pain was worse when I started again. That was how I knew something was really wrong.
Your symtoms are similar to mine. Treatment had no effect, and laying off had no benefit. As you say, this is when you know something has gone very wrong. I have tried laying off at least three times since last May, each time for a longer period. I can do activities of daily living but that’s it. Gentle (and I mean gentle) stretching is the only thing that doesn’t have consequences at this point. It’s coming up on a year for me. I know I’ve lost at least two summers of the sport I love. I take nothing for granted any more. I will count myself as fortunate if I ever toe the line at a race again.
Lila- as in many posts on ST, before you can decide what to do, you need an accurate diagnosis and subsequent options. It may be helpful to you to review one of the medical sites like Mayo Clinic and learn as much as you can between the traditional inguinal hernia, the one everyone knows about, and a sports hernia. if you have the ability to pass on to the examiner the specifics of when it’s bothersome, activities that make it worse or better, pain at rest, any accompanying issues like bowel or bladder function, numbness in a leg, night time pain, to name a few, then you can give them the best chance at a clear diagnosis right out of the box. So many of us, this author included, are in a big rush to get back to training as the racing season is before us. But, if you can resolve this problem now, potentially forever, as Batman’s Joker (Jack Nicholson) might say, “…think about the future!”
I am a male age group triathlete. I was diagnosed with a sports hernia. I healed without surgery. It took 1.5 years to heal. This is my story. I write this post because I turned to Slowtwitch for information when I was looking for answers to my problem. I was training for my 5th half Ironman in the spring of 2012. This was my third season in the sport of triathlon and biking. I was 41 at the time. I was 6’3" and 215 lbs. I started experiencing groin pain and abdominal pain in April, 2012. I believed the pain was caused by running because the pain was made worse by running. The groin pain rarely bothered me on the bike except during stand up hill climbing. For 9 months prior to this I had been working with a personal trainer who introduced me to new core strength training. I took two weeks off from training in April 2012 to heal. The break did not cure my pain. I implemented vigorous stretching (mostly focused on my groin muscles). I continued training through the discomfort. I attempted my half IM in June 2012- DNF. I went to an orthopedist in July 2012 who diagnosed me with a mild sports hernia (Athletic Pubalgia) after an MRI. He advised rest with physical therapy. I took two weeks completely off from training and stopped running for a month while doing 6 weeks of physical therapy. The doctor and physical therapist told me that my hip flexors were very tight. Tight hip flexors can put strain on the abdominal and groin muscles. The physical therapy introduced me to new stretches for the hip flexors that I had never used before. I did additional research on-line for hip stretching and strengthening. Honestly, the strength training exercises for my abdomen, groin and hip recommended by my therapist seemed to just increase my pain. I stopped the strength training and focused on stretching groin and hip flexors. After my two weeks of rest I continued to bike (training for a century ride in September 2012) and swim. I stopped my core strength training with my personal trainer when I started physical therapy. I stopped running and focused on biking and swimming. At this point I wasn’t sure what had caused my sports hernia but my top contenders were running and/or all those new and funky core exercises my personal trainer had me doing (I have since changed my opinion-read on). By the end of September 2012 my groin and abdominal pain had only improved about 40%. I returned to my orthopedist who recommended surgery if I wanted to continue in triathlon without pain. I had a consultation with Dr. William Myers in Philadelphia (sports hernia expert and surgeon) in October, 2012. Dr. Myers recommended sports hernia surgery. I scheduled surgery with Dr. Myers in December, 2012. My insurance (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) refused to pay for the surgery. I could have paid for the surgery out of pocket ($10-$15,000). I cancelled the surgery. I decided that the possible complications, recovery and residual effects of the surgery could be worse or at least no better than my current condition. I chose not to risk this invasive procedure. Not to mention it would be a costly gamble for me financially. Instead, I chose to try 6 weeks of complete rest (bummer). My condition improved but I still had residual pain that I was afraid would get worse as I reintroduced running. I gradually increased my training (swim, bike and run) starting in January, 2013. I was registered for a half-Ironman in June 2103 and commenced the requisite training program. I continued to diligently stretch with a special focus on my groin and hip flexors before and after every run and bike (half hour before and after). I had a running gait analysis and changed my running shoes from a stability-plus (low drop) shoe which I had been running in since May 2012 to neutral plus (Brooks Glycerin). By the way, in the months leading up to my injury, I was experimenting with the minimalist shoe movement (mistake for me). Running in the Brooks Glycerin seemed to help improve my groin pain even though they felt heavier and slower. But I figured better to be running slower than not at all. I was still having residual groin pain in the spring of 2013 but I was still increasing my training. This is when I made the move that I believe ultimately resolved my sports hernia. In April 2013 I went for a bike fit at Parvilla Cycle and Multi-Sport in Arnold, Maryland. This is no ordinary bike fit. I had previously had an ordinary bike fit. Stu Waring combines Retul’s Vantage 3D Motion Capture Wireless System with the Guru DFU for a completely dynamic fitting experience. Stu is one of the few certified instructors for Retul in the USA. This fit was a four hour process. I explained my sports hernia problem and the possible contribution of my tight hip flexors to Stu before the fit. He examined my body in addition to my bike and riding position. Basically, he adjusted my bike to reduce the stress on my hip flexors by widening the angle between my hips/leg/knee and my torso at the top of my pedal stroke. I believe he did this by moving my seat up and forward, increasing my stem length and using shorter cranks. Essentially, these adjustments moved my body up and forward extending my legs and widening the angle running from my knees to my hips to my chest. Our theory is that riding in the aero position on my bike at the previous smaller angle was tightening my hip flexors. The tight hip flexors put stress on my abdominal and groin muscles (they are all connected). Then when I ran off the bike the tight hip flexors would pull on my weaker abdominal and groin muscles causing small tears. After the fit I continued to train for my half IM in June 2013 which I successfully completed. I have trained all summer biking, running and swimming. Since June 2013 I have done all of my long runs in Hoka running shoes (extreme cushioning) which I highly recommend. Since the bike fit my groin and abdominal pain has gradually become almost non-existent. The bike fit seems to be the thing that finally tipped the balance toward recovery of my sports hernia. As of September 2013, I am pain free with just some occasional mild discomfort. I can kick a soccer ball with my kids again. I am also much more comfortable and fresh running off the bike. In summary, the lessons from my sports hernia experience are: 1) If you are a triathlete with a sports hernia you may want to consider an expert bike fit with someone like Stu Waring at Parvilla Cycle; 2) You may be able to fully recover from a sports hernia without surgery (a question I struggled with) if you can be patient; 3) Even though running causes your sports hernia to hurt, the true source of the injury for a triathlete may be the tight aero position on the bike; 4) It takes a long time to recover from a sports hernia (1.5 years for me); 5) Stretching hip flexors (more than the groin) is very important for healing and preventing sports hernias in triathletes; 6) The wrong running shoes (especially minimalist shoes for heavy triathletes) may contribute to sports hernias (consider Brooks Glycerin or Hoka). Caveats: 1) My sports hernia was a mild to moderate sports hernia that was caused by prolonged wear and tear not an acute injury; 2) I could afford to be patient and wait for the injury to heal as opposed to needing a quick fix via surgery (i.e. I am not a professional or collegiate athlete). I hope this information is helpful for triathletes suffering from a sports hernia. It is difficult to find information and doctors don’t necessarily have all the answers.