It has become a challenge for a lot of athletes and physicians when it comes to making diagnosis of groin pain experienced by athletes. Recently, a groin pain experienced by athletes was diagnosed only as muscle strains. As time passed, research was made about the source of groin pain and it has shown that there are various conditions on nerve problems, damage on the cartilage, muscle injuries and urologic conditions which all show similar symptoms. One of the difficult issues to diagnose would be the one that’s called sports hernia.
A sports hernia is actually there when there’s a weakening on one’s tendons or muscles on the lower abdominal wall. This would be a part of the abdomen present with where the inguinal hernia occurs and is called an inguinal canal. When there will be an inguinal hernia which occurs, there’s going to be a weakening on the abdominal wall which will allow the hernia to actually be felt. In the case of sports hernia, the issue is because of a weakening on the same abdominal wall muscles, but there will be no hernia visible.
Its Symptoms
A sports hernia starts with slow aching pain which you can actually feel in the lower abdominal region. The symptoms could worsen through certain activities like running or simply bending forward. It could also lead to the experience of increased symptoms when coughing or sneezing. Also, sports hernias are usually common for athletes that requires them to maintain a bent forward position. But this can also be present in other athletes like soccer players.
Diagnosis
Sports hernia diagnosis could actually be determined according to the patient’s history, the diagnostic tests made and also on the physical examinations implemented. Before, the use of MRI tests are implemented to look for any signs of sports hernia. Research shows that MRI is able to show some characteristic findings. This is the reason why MRI is commonly used to help in confirming diagnosis.
Treatment
There are actually few treatments that show to be truly effective on sports hernia than just surgery. Because of this, the initial treatment of sports hernia had been conservative in hopes that its symptoms will resolve. Strengthening on the pelvic and abdominal musculature in fact shows to be sometimes effective when it comes to relieving the symptoms.
If in case these measures cannot relieve symptoms of sports hernia, a surgery will be recommended that will help in repairing the weakened area of the patient’s abdominal wall. Different studies made also shows that more than 50 percent of athletes could return to their activity after going through surgery of sports hernia. The rehabilitation from surgery of sports hernia mostly takes about eight weeks.