Unfortunately, I think I’m just about to be diagnosed with a sports hernia just waiting for the MRI results. It was bad enough that a consultant and GP could feel it but it didn’t show as a full hernia in the Ultrasound. I can only run with strong painkillers and struggle to get out of bed in the night and morning.

Has anyone had the same did you go for a surgical intervention or wait for it heal I’ve heard that it can take a significant time for it to fix.

Everyone is different.

One of the local blokes around where I live got one just as he got in the Great Britain mountain running team. He’s been out for the best part of 2 years

Bad luck, hopefully you’ll get it fixed up soon enough. As someone said, all cases are different. Treat my following account as a cautionary tale and probably not typical:

I first damaged ‘something’ in lower left abdominal area many years ago whilst carrying a full beer cask. There was wet drain cover which caused me to slip,and fast. The involuntary reflex of my foot and leg trying to both stabilise me and hold the weight of the cask very obviously caused some instantaneous damage, as I felt a ‘pop’ in the pubis area. It initially knocked me sick. However, it did improve over the course of a few months. Looking back, the injury site always felt somehow weaker and prone after this event. No ongoing ‘proper’ pain, just recurring discomfort and a ‘full’ feeling at the site if I ‘overdid’ it.

Fwd approx 8 yrs to 2016 I’d totally forgotten about it. Then, I was one day going a bit hard on a rowing machine in a ‘New Year, New Me, New Gym-membership’ debacle. Turned out had been given a neglectful gym induction and my (unsupervised) and wrong technique saw the same area ‘pop’ again. Except now it actually hurt to lie down, to drive, etc …even lifting a grocery bag was stupidly painful.

Given Naproxen by doc. Was advised (by two hernia specialists) following examination and ultrasound that the injury I’d sustained was ‘unfortunately more complex’ than a hernia, ie numerous small tears, pulls etc to numerous things in the pubic tubercle area, but ‘probably not operable’. Was also advised that ‘total rest’ was the best course of (sic) action. When I asked ‘for how long?’ He gave me the ‘shrug’-sign.

In hindsight I’m unhappy that he (private clinic via NHS) didn’t recommend or refer me to a physio. He just re-emphasised ‘total rest’. Of course one can’t literally do nothing. Challenging.

This ‘non-hernia’ happened Feb 2016, so exactly 3 years ago. Literally life-changing. I can’t believe that last 3 years have seen me mostly inactive (in a ‘light sports’ sense), but it’s such a slow progress. There is some progress, but in my case it’s ridiculously easy to re-injure and slip backwards, sometimes many months back. For example a long drive is still a challenge as left-side is clutch-side. May need to go automatic.

The only saving graces/low-risk activities for me have been walking and swimming (crawl-stroke only, with minimal or no kick) otherwise I’d have gone full basketcase mental. Not sure I haven’t 😜

Get the best exam, imaging and advice that you can afford and, if possible – see a sports physiotherapist*. If latter not possible, then make it possible 🙂

Treat it very seriously.

*Preferably see a sports physio with a good rep who specialises in getting players back in the game. Even if only for an initial evaluation/second opinion.

PS If you must ride your bike during recovery then lower the seat appreciably below yr regular height so as not to be hyper-extending legs/adductors etc. And don’t climb in the saddle. IANAD etc, but have re-injured a couple of times by not following this advice (I found online somewhere or another). The most impactful re-injury IME was from a seated climb on my geared bike, last Autumn. It put me back a good six months. Again, ymmv and probably will. Hopefully you’ll be back on your game super-fast . Oh yes, now is probably the time to learn about tantric techniques. No snigger.

I had something like this way back in 2002. Its difficult to say what it was. I was diagnosed with sport hernia. It took 2.5 years to heal if I remember correctly.

Cause was very different from Malvern Riders though.

There was no event.

I always used to get groin strain when ever I played football as a kid, I just assumed it was standard mostly on my right side.

When I started to play more and more at uni, there became more and more frequent. Until one day it didn’t heal, I kept playing football for a bit but soon became chronic.

As above I had ~ 2 years maybe a bit more where I could only do very very light exercise. Even walking was nt great as I was always scared I’d pull it. Especially mud / ice. It became very painful at some stages ie sciatica / ball ache.

Im not sure why it healed. I did a lot of things physio/chiropractors/tendon injections none really seemed to help.

I was also doing a lot of stretches / core exercises. I think core exercises will help to some extent.

But it seemed to really get better after I had discovered some advice on how to stretch the muscle at the front of my leg. Ie anchor core and stretch or something like this ->
video on strech

I had done gymnastics as a kid and was quite flexible but I think I did the “bad” stretch where I’m moving my lower back.

I also learnt to do this SI joint correction. It took a very long time, but I can deffinetely feel something pop back into place when I do it correctly.
SI joint correction

However I think it might just have been the first stretch that really helped me.

I think my problem was I had little movement in my hips and I was moving my lower back / pelvis alot to compensate.

Its difficult to explain as I would have said I was reasonably flexible and probably less flexible now. But the flex was coming from the wrong areas of my body.

So I would look into trying to increase hip range movement my self, but you have to understand what is a hip movement and what is your pelvis moving.

Anyway since then I’ve had zero problems, I never get groin strains. Plus I used to have a bit of lower back pain previously. This has gone too.

I seem to have a hernia exactly like the one you mention Malvern Rider, although not terribly painful at the mo. Similar in that I felt tear when I was squatting a couple of years back and promptly forgot about it, a bulge has now apperad and is a quite uncomfortable at times, so seeing the doc Tuesday am, hernias never get smaller do they…

catfood, as I say – doc says they couldnt find a hernia.

I do have a ‘lump’ in the same area but have been told by two diff hernia clinics that it’s merely a lipoma/fatty lump. Ultrasound didn’t find a hernia as such either, just the damage mentioned.

FACT: You need to get checked asap to rule out inguinal hernia or something, everything I read says don’t mess about if a bulge appears.

After three years and with recurring problem I’m feeling uncertain as to whether I initially received good a thorough exam/proper treatment , unless of course it really is that ‘complex’ and ‘rest’ is the only available recourse 😕. I did get two (same) opinions at two hospitals.

I think it’s deffo a hernia as if I lie down it goes away and the area feels totally normal, felt the tear happen very clearly, should have gone to the docs right then. Fngers crossed they can get to the bottom of it before it gets worse.

Sorry I’ve been out of mobile signal for the past three days so many thanks for your replies. Its definitely not a traditional hernia as there’s no hole. I’ve had a ultrasound by a radiographer who specialises in finding them. But two docs independently felt a hernia in the same place I didn’t tell them what the other had found. I suspect it a tare the back of the abdomen that didn’t show on the ultrasound.

I think once its diagnosed
with the mri scan I’ll find a specialist surgeon to repair it and the right physio to get me back. Hopefully I wont get the complications that some of you have had but I’m bracing myself as these seem much more complex than the traditional hernia. I’m fortunate to have good health cover.

I’m gutted I’m probably in Marathon PB shape and loving running with my club.

Sports Hernia, diagnosed about 10 years ago. It totally incapacitated me. Could hardly walk never mind run or cycle.
At the time I didn’t have insurance, and wasn’t prepared to wait for the NHS so we dug deep and paid for it.
As I woke in theatre, I could feel it felt better, the constant pain was gone.
A couple of weeks serious rest, then I went for intensive physio. I was very fortunate that my employer cent me to a rehabilitation centre and I was made to work hard for two weeks. I had two weeks back at home then another two weeks of physio.
After that I continued to train and exercise. Every day if I couldn’t run, then I’d walk miles. Anything to get my strength up.
After about 4/5 months I was back with it. Ran half marathons and worked up within 9 months of the op into a marathon.
You have my sympathies, the pain of the sports hernia would literally make me cry with pain.I suspect you’ll need it fixed via surgery, I was told by several ‘experts’ that rest and physio would never be a permanent fix.
Good luck its a PITA but you’ll get better!

My story will hopefully serve as a bit of an antidote to the tales of woe above. I had worsening inguinal hernias on both sides a few years back. Like yours, they were affecting my ability to exercise so I decided to have surgery. Got a mesh repair (there are several different techniques for fixing them). Was up and about the following day. It was winter though and there was snow on the ground. I had a little slip. Didn’t fall but the reflexive tensing of my abdominal muscles and resulting agony was enough for me to turn round and go home again! Better every day for the next few weeks. I was snowboarding less than 3 weeks after with minimal discomfort. After that it’s been all good. No more pain.

The only downside for me is aesthetic. I no longer have a nice line demarcating the border between my abs and top of the leg. Also, my fat distribution has changed so I don’t seem to grow fat further down than a couple of centimetres below my belly button, which looks a bit odd. It’s incentive to keep slim though! Overall very satisfied with the surgery.

Six years ago I had a double inguinal hernia done after I found a few lumps after a bike crash (the largest was the size of a squash ball…). I had originally thought I had strained something but fainted after prodding the lump prompted me to get it checked. I was in for surgery the following week and had the mesh repair. 3 weeks recovery and I was back on the bike without issue.

Yeah I thought similar, but as it turns out I have a Libra tear two cysts in the joint and osteoarthritis.
Which was thought to b a groin strain

Which in short means it’s a full hip replacement in the not to distant future, not to scare you