Sports Hernia

Yes - i have 2, well one of them has now progressed to a more traditional inguinal but the other longer standing one is still of the sports variety. Left side 9 years now, right side, which is now the inguinal, 4 years.

Took ages to get a diagnosis and still waiting to get it sorted due to a number of reasons.

yes trained through it - one got worse in that its now an inguinal but other than that no modifications. That said it sometimes hurts a lot and i am sure its responsible for my current knee issues.

the main reason i have not been cut for this yet is due to having the right doctor do it. For me there is only one person i'd let operate on me for this condition and so i am just trying to work it so i see them soon, things are starting to come together so i hope its not too much longer now.

Where are you based?

what country are you based in? IMHO there are very few people in the _world_ who really know how to diagnose and treat a SH. I was in a medical wilderness before i found the right person who diagnosed, what i already knew, in about a minute flat and showed me the exact problem during a dynamic ultrasound.

if you really do have a sports hernia then yes its basically a nerve compression problem due to a weakening of the posterior abdominal wall around or within the inguinal canal. As a general rule the nerves most commonly involed are the ilioinguinal and the genitofemoral and various activities can make the compression better or worse which is why it will wax and wane somewhat. Its not really possible to strengthenen the wall which is why rehab does not really help in the long term. Inserting mesh to fix the problem also does not generally help if its a real SH due to the mesh having an irritating effect on the nerves which are already fired up and so you end up back to square one.

repair the abdominal wall, with a pure tissue repair, and potentially include a neurectomy, depending on how they look during surgery, and you should be good to go.

nerve blocks to the 2 nerves i mentioned could help, they also could not, it just depends on if the doc manages to hit the nerve. I have had them in the past and they did something but nothing that major so i would not read to much into their results, unless they take the pain completely away that is!

the doc who diagnosed me absolutely does not use mesh in athletes as for a SH it just causes many more problems than it solves, for a regular inguinal then maybe there is a place for it, they dont use mesh for those either, but for a SH no way!

 are you talking about Cattey? Personally he is not on my list of go to people for this that said the no.1 is probably on the wrong side of the pond for you but there are many NFL, NBA and MLS guys that travel to get the right treatment. One example of many

http://www.jagpt.com/docs/Could%20operation%20benefit%20McNabb.pdf

caveat: i have never met cattey nor meyers who is another big SH guy in the States

To the best of my knowledge neither of these guys treat SH's as an issue that effects nerves which is why i would not go and see them for MY condition as i know it to be nerve compression related. The problem is that SH is a bucket term for perhaps 20 different, but similar, conditions so the treatment really depends on what the issue really is. I know mine to be nerve compression related therefore i'd see the best in the world to treat the condition based on that, yours might be different so make sure you get an accurate diagnosis first before going under the knife as having mesh put in when its not warranted could complicate things further down the line if revision is needed.

Do your research and decide whats best for you but i know whats best for me as i have had a LONG time to work out whats wrong with me.