Forums >Health and Nutrition>Has anyone here ever recovered from a sports hernia?
I was originally diagnosed with a groin strain...that was 6 months ago. That's how long it's been since I've run. I've been sent for all kinds of tests and everything looks good...earlier this week i had fluid shot into my hip and an mri taken. I go next week to consult with the specialist. He wants to make sure everything looks good with my hip before sending me to someone who specializes in sports hernias.
I have read alot of posts on here about sports hernias but the none of the threads say anything about recovery or anyone who has recovered from this.
Yes, there are too many people and cases of sports hernia all over the world who recovered from sports hernia.
Have patience.
Consult to specialist or expert Doctors about your problem in your location.
They will physically examine you and gives you treatment options.
In major situations, there is also an option for physical surgery.
Recovering from what I think is one now - got it playing soccer this Fall. Doctor did not find a regular hernia, and at first the pain was pretty severe, especially when I played my last soccer game through the pain. But MRI and X-ray didnt show any protrusions. I spoke with a friend who had a sports hernia before and it pretty much described what I was going rhough - couldnt do a sit up if I wanted to, pain just above groin but below belly button, pain when coughing/sneezing.
It's been about a month and a half since the pain started, and about a month since I last played soccer. I have not stopped running (probably stupid on my part, but I also believe in active recovery from injuries) though I only run 1 mile a day just to loosen things up. At first I was icing a few times a day for about 2 weeks. After that I switched to heat a couple times a day because the area really just felt tight all the time.
I also started a stretching and core strengthening regimen. I think that this has helped the most of anything, and I am able to run my mile daily with nearly no pain now (hopefully no pain by the end of this week if things progress as they have been).
Stretches I am doing (holding each for 30 seconds)
Side stretch
runners lunge (typically holding onto something like a chair or the wall to make sure I dont go too deep)
butterfly stretch
Core strengthening exercises
knee plank (when I first got the pain I couldnt hold a regular plank so I held a knee plank for 20 seconds, after just a few weeks I can hold a regular plank for 30 seconds with no pain at all)
Side plank (at first i could only hold this for about 10 seconds, but am back up to about 30 seconds per side)
Recently I bumped up the strengthening and am using the oblique twist machine at the gym.
Sports hernias from what I have read are caused by a weaking in the abdominal wall, and I really think the core strengthening has helped a lot. I've been doing these really just once a day, but every day. Now I have no pain when I walk, even when I change directions quicker (which used to hurt quite a bit) and almost no pain (more jsut a discomfort) when I run.
Here is a link to an interesting articles (where I got the strengthening exercises).
http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/injury-pain/sports-hernia.html
Again, I expect it to take a little longer to heal up fully and jerky, twisting motions can still hurt. I tried kickign a soccer ball last weekend and that hurt (though not as much as it had a month ago), but I definitely feel like it is getting better. I'm hopeful that I can start running longer distances by the beginning of December.
Hope this helps. Best of luck
Jeff
I have made a full recovery from my sports hernia. I stopped running for about 3 months and really never thought I would be able to run again. I went to a couple different doctors and did quite a bit of research and I didn't like the options I was looking at. I finally went to a different doctor that specialized in sports injuries and he got me on track.
I had been following my other doctors advice and what I thought was common sense and just RICEing the injury. He sent me to some pretty intense physical therapy that I was sure was just making the problem worse. It definitely got much more painful before it got better but it did get better. It took about 3 months of PT but I slowly started to run again. After about 6 months the pain was almost completely gone and I was even back on track enough to run the Boston Marathon (slowly).
I don't know if what I did will work for everybody. Everything I read pointed to surgery as just about the only option and PT as a long shot. I'm so happy I didn't opt for the surgery.
Feeling the growl again
Yes. Core work/planks help, though I have not been consistent enough to call that my solution. I took a couple weeks completely off running, and have worked to reduce the amount of time I spend sitting.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Yes, sitting will kill you. I have the timer on my watch set to remind me to get up every 15 minutes so I dont sit for too long at one time. I think it is the being crunched over as you sit that really tightens up the area because I have also found that when I sleep if I am curled in ball on my side, I hurt in the morning. However, if I lay flat on my stomach for the night, in the morning I am fine.
Here's another link I found (better than the last one too - more exercises and the progression of them)
http://www.sportsherniasouth.com/Sports-Hernia-Treatment.html
Again, best of luck.
Great link Jeff, I was diagnosed with a torn labrum in my hip but i am going to rehab it using the "Sports Hernia Repair Protocol" link you posted.
I had a sprained adductor when I thought a hernia was a possibility a few years ago - the physio-supervised rehab I did was completely different than that link - it was a different injury. Be careful.
Most of those are standard strength exercises, and probably won't do any harm, but see if you can find something more directed at your injury. Might even be worth a few bucks to get a program from a physio.