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Very painful hernia
I was diagnosed with small inguinal hernia. There is no visible bulge, but had positive cough test and ultrasound confirmed this too. To add to the confusion, my GP told me I have sports hernia as I have been an avid runner and cycled fair bit too, and he explained that is causing me pain. Been struggling with it for 4 months now, tried conservative treatments for sports hernia like gentle strengthening exercises and stretches, but feel like I’m not getting far with this. Pain wise, it’s always there 2/10 getting as high as 8/10 sometimes. It is mainly localised to the top of my inguinal canal, spreading to upper leg when it’s bad. Sometimes it’s so bad that my testicle hurts. I’m going to see another hernia specialist on Wednesday.
Dear people, what are my options now? Do I persevere with conservative treatments see if pain improves? Can small hernia heal itself? Do I start thinking about something more drastic? I’m UK based, anyone can recommend decent specialists here?
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5 Replies
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The typical inguinal Hernia can radiate pain to the testicle. Sports hernias are less likely to so do as the tear is unrelated to the inguinal canal itself.
That distinction may help you figure out inguinal vs sports hernia.
Also, sports hernia is many times used as a diagnosis of exclusion when inguinal Hernia cannot be palpated. True diagnosis is much more difficult.
Core strengthening exercises can help with many people to reduce their inguinal hernia symptoms.
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Some of us have already commented about how the risk of chronic pain is higher for active people, or thin low body-fat people. Even the surgeons agree about problems with low body-fat people. Professional athletes avoid mesh, and even though they are more skilled than the average person, they are not that much more active than many of us. One of your doctors thinks that you might also have athletic pubalgia, which comes from too much physical activity, generally. In sum, even just using the generally accepted risk multipliers accepted by the professional surgeons you seem like a patient that would be most likely to suffer from mesh after the repair. Low body-fat, very active person with athletic pubalgia and an inguinal hernia. You seem ripe for mesh problems.
That’s what I see for you , based on my own experience and what I’ve learned over the years.
This is the one area where it seems like the surgeons just don’t pass on their knowledge. I think that you should see a surgeon that repairs hernias in professional athletes, without ruining their careers. One who understands both true hernias and athletic pubalgia. If you want to be physically active again.
It’s been very surprising how nobody can show the evidence that justifies using large pieces of mesh in an athletic person. I think that for some surgeons the win-some-lose-some principle is in play, because they see a cross-section of society. If you lose, he or she still has a bunch of wins out there. But you’ll lose a lot.
Good luck. If they can’t show evidence that their repair method will get you back to where you want to be, keep looking. Don’t become just a statistic.
Dr. William Brown is known for repairs on professional athletes. He has some thoughts.
https://www.sportshernia.com/no-mesh-hernia-repair/mesh-mesh/
p.s. it would be fantastic if a surgeon could reply with their own data about successful repairs using mesh, and not just the SAGES guidelines, which are very general and seem to accept chronic pain as normal. The data is out there. Dr. Kang is an excellent example.
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I have seem a surgeon regarding this yesterday, and he suggested immediate laparoscopic operation using mesh. I’m a bit reluctant as symptoms seem to be improving on their own very slowly, last month I were struggling to walk more than half a mile, now can go for a 2 mile walk no problem. I have been doing pelvic floor exercises daily, so this might be a factor in recovery. Still not perfect, as constant pain is there, but wondered if anyone had their hernia pains improve to the point where they did not need an op anymore? Thank you for your comments in advance.
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Hello [USER=”1916″]Chaunce1234[/USER] Thank you for your reply and links, I will check them out. Ultrasound showed a small inguinal hernia, they mostly focused on this, rather than sports hernia aspect. I might ask for a second opinion and more ultrasounds done, would ultrasound pick up sports hernia?
Initially pain started shortly after another operation, prior to that I was running and exercising a couple of times a week. I went for a gentle jog, and the pain started in the inguinal canal reaching all the way to the testicle. It also radiated to my upper leg. It doesn’t hurt when I go to the toilet or cough, but sometimes it hurts just in one spot, at the top of my inguinal canal. I went for a gentle swim a couple of days ago and the pain intensified for about a day.
I’m 38yo, was in an above average physical shape, unfortunately currently dealing with other physical condition, which puts a strain on me mentally 🙁
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Dr Ulrike Muschaweck is typically based in Munich Germany but performs surgeries in the UK as well, she is very well known in pro-athlete communities for managing “sports hernia” / inguinal disruption, and inguinal hernias, and some patients and pro-athletes from the USA even fly out to see her. I believe this is a UK contact for her, but I am not 100% certain:
https://www.fortiusclinic.com/dr-ulrike-muschaweck
There is also the Gilmore Groin Clinic in London.
What was your ultrasound diagnosis of? What was the onset of your symptoms / pain like, was there a particular event with immediate pain? Does it hurt more when you cough or strain for a bowel movement? How old are you?
Good luck and keep us updated on your case.
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