Surprisingly, a sports hernia is not actually a hernia despite the name. The symptoms may look similar, but the cause of the pain and pressure in sports hernias is not an abdominal muscle separation or protrusion of the intestine or any other soft tissue. It’s an injury to your lower abdomen or groin’s fascia, tendons, or muscles that causes chronic discomfort.
What Causes a Sports Hernia?
Each year, approximately 5% of adult athletes suffer from sports hernias, also known as Athletic Pubalgia. Individuals suffer from this injury when lower abdominal walls or the tendons connecting to the pelvis muscles weaken. Sports that require sudden, powerful movements, including quick and repetitive hip movements such as twisting, kicking, and jumping, are more likely to experience this injury.
Symptoms
Symptoms specific to a sports hernia include:
- The injury causes immediate, intense pain.
- The pain is ongoing, causing chronic pain that may feel dull or burn-like.
- Tenderness and bruising may occur around the upper thigh and lower abdomen.
- Pain can be exacerbated by twisting or deep abdominal engagements, such as when you do situps or cough.
- Pain reduction when taking a break, but it returns during activities.
- It can be challenging to pinpoint precisely where the pain is coming from.
- The pain radiates down to your scrotum or inner thighs.
Can a Sports Hernia be Healed Without Surgery?
Clients most commonly want to know if a sports hernia can be healed without medical intervention, and the answer is yes, given the severity of the injury and pain. At Matterhorn Fit, our personalized, evidence-based programs address and treat injuries, chronic pain, and movement dysfunction on the neurological level. We employ the most effective rehabilitation techniques, neurological movement training, and recovery modalities. Over 94% of our clients experience significant pain relief within the first two weeks.
Matterhorn Fit’s Non-Invasive Approach to Sports Hernia Recovery
At Matterhorn Fit, our approach to sports hernia rehabilitation and treatment aims to alleviate pain, restore range and motion, strengthen the body, and allow you to regain freedom and return to your daily activity. The focus of rehabilitation is strengthening the hip adductors and abdominal muscles along with core stabilization building endurance and balance between the hip and abdominal muscles.
Our holistic, whole-body approach to pain management is key to the success of our clients. Our brain-based diagnostic tools address the root area of compensation in your system causing pain. We then reconnect the neuromuscular pathways that have been “shut down” as a function of your brain to protect the injured area. After rehabilitation, we employ a personalized training program to help improve strength and flexibility to regain pain-free movement and prevent future injury. Schedule your initial evaluation at our Naples or Bonita Springs, Florida facilities today!
