Sports "hernia"

I Couldn't kick a football more than 15 metres. Had Problems with my gait when running...i spent 9 months seeing specialists within the NHS and had 2 MRI scans. I even diagnosed it as a sports hernia/Gilmore's groin myself, but the NHS wouldn’t except this injury or diagnosis. Ultimately i paid to see a specialist down in London who made the diagnosis in 20mins - I had surgery 2wks later by dr Gilmore....I have to say it was money well spent. Took me about 3 wks to get back to light running, but surgery was a success. I wish you well with your treatment. Karl

OK so i know all about sports hernias as i have now got 2 of them, well i sed to have 2 as one of them is now a more traditional inguinal hernia. The issue is that the posterior wall of your inguinal canal is weak and so your inestines are pushing against and basically squashing into your inguinal canal, but the abdominal wall is not breached, yet.

 You get pain as there are 3 main nerves that run through the canal and these feed into and can cause pain in the adductors, testicles, abdominals etc. IMHO mesh is not the way forward here but a pure tissue repair is. I have been seen by many many people but i have seen the defect for myself during a dymanic ultrasound when i was seen by a specialist from Munich. She is the one that treats all the premiership players and also the big names from the States goto see her as without doubt she is the best on the planet for this.

I have not yet had mine operated on for various reasons, but after 7 years! she diagnosed me in 5 seconds, and then proved it to me. This is after 'specialist' after 'specialist' did not have a clue even though within the first few months of this happening i was saying to docs this is a hernia and they did not want to know.

 Let me know if you want any more info.

Yes I think core strength is more important than I realised and I wonder if the imbalance between strong and weak muscles has caused my problem. I was diagnosed with a hernia after an Ultrasound but the GP I saw prior to the scan suggested a sports hernia. I am yet to see a specialist but having read all these posts am a bit concerned about the correct diagnosis. I seem to have a few small lumps following the line of the inguinal ligament, my physio wasn't too sure about it. It's been nagging away for months now but never becomes particularly painful. I wonder if it is ok to continue running until I can get if fixed probably on NHS though as I don't have BUPA. Please any suggestions ?   

The experience I had suggests that even the surgeons can struggle to distinguish Gilmore's groin from an inguinal hernia until they open you up. I had a mesh repair for my Gilmore's that improved things but wasn't a total cure. Bit disconcerted to find that Gilmore's clinic website says mesh repairs are not the way to go...

I have relapses every now and again, just getting over the worst relapse since surgery as the other day the intense abdominal pain came back as well as the groin hurting, which I only every had before when I first got it.

ChrisCyclist wrote (see)

Yes I think core strength is more important than I realised and I wonder if the imbalance between strong and weak muscles has caused my problem. I was diagnosed with a hernia after an Ultrasound but the GP I saw prior to the scan suggested a sports hernia. I am yet to see a specialist but having read all these posts am a bit concerned about the correct diagnosis. I seem to have a few small lumps following the line of the inguinal ligament, my physio wasn't too sure about it. It's been nagging away for months now but never becomes particularly painful. I wonder if it is ok to continue running until I can get if fixed probably on NHS though as I don't have BUPA. Please any suggestions ?   

Chris, it's hard to give advice as what works for one of us may not work for you. When I look back on the 4 months I had waiting for surgery I think I was over cautious and could have kept the training going more, at least steady runs. But I was getting sharp jabs of pain without warning and I was scared of it breaking down miles from home and having to limp back or get a taxi. Can you see any pattern to what makes it hurt or is it pretty random? Do you keep a detailed training log with injury notes in it? I found a slow shuffle was best, as the more I picked my knees up the more it hurt. And avoid hills and speed work.

I have had inguinal hernias repaired on both left and right side one in the 70s and one in the 80s and touch wood never had a problem since.  Both probably from playing football.  Ultrasound was hardly used in those days for anything other than pregnant women so the diagnosis was done in a much more basic way with a finger and jelly applied where the sun don't shine

Don't think the doctors had any problem identifying they were hernias

That's so long ago they hadn't invented Gilmore's Groin ! According to his website he did his first repair in 1980 and the phrase was penned some unspecificed time afterwards.

Neither my GP nor the outpatients registrar did the finger test on me which probably explains why the latter got it wrong. Even the surgeon didn't bother but as he was about to open me up anyway maybe he figured there was no point.

They were monochrome days then Joe, but they could diagnose a hernia.  Actually the two operations were ten years apart and the treatment for them was amazingly different in terms of time in hospital and advice about getting back to training etc. so I can only guess how different it is now, another 40 years on from my first one.

Joe; Thanks for your reply, my email notifiy thing doesn't seem to be working now so assumed there were no further posts. I saw a hernia specialist a month ago and I am now waiting to hear when I can have the op for a standard hernia (Keyhole mesh on both sides.) I think I have a sports hernia but it seems very difficult to get specific treatment so now wonder whether I will have the op for a standard one but it may not work ?

I wasn't really properly inspected at the 'consultation' I didn't see the main man and was only there for a couple of minutes. I get the feeling that the docs can only really tell what's going on once they get in and have a look.

The bottom line is I can't run and it's depressing with a whole new season about to start and not being able to go to any races. I'll let you know how things progress.