Anyone ever have a "sports hernia" and the surgery that comes with it?

[Dgro]

If you wouldn't mind sharing a little of your experience...how you got injured, how long until you knew it was serious, how the surgery and recovery went, are you 100% better today or are there lingering problems, etc

Thanks.

[Dgro]

also how bad was the pain, at its worst?

[Bosch232]

I had two at two separate times in college. One was in my abdomen at my belt line, the other one was in the scrotum. I think it varies widely from person to person, but mine never hurt. It was just a bulge. One I got after a personal best bench day, the other, not sure. I think they were a few years apart. The surgeries were the kind where they don't cut a big incision, but just stick some tools in you through a couple of places. I'm sure someone will be along to name that type of procedure.

I won't lie to you: Recovery sucked. I was a strapping 22 yr old in good shape, and it still sucked. On a scale of 1 - 10, I'd put Day 1 post-procedure pain at a solid 6.5, and steadily improving down to zero in a couple of weeks. But it was never Oh-God-I-Want-To-Die painful. I juts sucked, you know?

The weight lifting restrictions are a bummer. But really, you may as well be pragmatic about it. If you have a hernia, there's no avoiding getting it fixed, so just get it behind you.

That was all 20 yrs ago, I'm 43. A year ago I bested my PR from back in college for bench. (Not that it took that long to recover, lol) Just saying that depending on your age and overall health, you'll be back to your old self in a few months and after a while you'll look back on it as a minor event in your life. I never had any lingering issues. Get it put behind you, and you'll soon forget about it.

[Bosch232]

And looking at your signature tag line, my stats back then were very similar to where you are now with ht and wt.

[Dgro]

I appreciate the response but I'm pretty sure you're referring to an inguinal hernia.

I have a "sports hernia", which is mostly different from an inguinal hernia because i don't have a hole in my abdominal wall with guts spilling out (no bulge). Here's a link that sorta explains what I have:
http://orthopedics.about.com/od/spor...s/a/hernia.htm

[Dgro]

So no one has had a sports hernia? I'm getting an MRI tomorrow, probably surgery next week unless it turns out I don't need it.

[Bosch232]

Is the surgery to repair it the same? It seems like the same to me.

[Dgro]

Well I'm holding a sheet of paper that a doctor gave me today and it says that surgery for a sports hernia entails "the lower abdominal muscles and connective tissue [being] released and reattached, and some of the hip muscles are loosened". I'm pretty sure nothing like that is done with an inguinal hernia.

You're never going to have your guts spilling out through a whole in your abdomen with the sports hernia like you do with an inguinal hernia. I think it's pretty deceptive that they both share a similar name because they seem pretty different the way I've had it explained to me. The sports hernia feels very muscular - like I have a few pulled muscles below and around the abdomen, and some various aches and pains I could equate to how I feel the day after a hard workout when I'm in really bad shape. And that's after basically sitting on my ass for 2 weeks.

I'm curious to know how the recovery process went for some people because I still would like to come back and have at least part of a track season (which runs from january through the end of may)

[Bosch232]

Yeah, mine was nothing like that. They basically put a mesh over the hole, and that was it. Like a patch on an inner tube. Your procedure sounds more invasive.