Hurdling Injuries: Groin Pain

It's been a long road back from last year's NYC Marathon. Shortly afterwards, starting in early December, I decided to address a lingering groin pain that was slowly getting worse. I tried stretching, ibuprofen, running slowly, but nothing would work.

I took a stab at self-diagnosis using Google and was fairly convinced that it might be an inguinal hernia. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inguinal_hernia) The pain was in the right area, plus the pain would increase when I sneezed or coughed. While the pain was always present, it was manageable and low grade. Since there was no bulge or swelling it didn't fit the symptoms of the classic inguinal hernias.

Then I discovered something called a "sports hernia," also known as "athletic pubalgia." (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_pubalgia)
Technically not a hernia but also causing chronic groin pain, it doesn't seem to be a commonly understood malady. The lack of a good definition of the cause made me believe my symptoms fit. What's more is that there are outpatient surgical procedures which claim to resolve the problem.

Surgery seemed like a drastic option, and how could I even be sure it would be successful? I did see a doctor and she considered the possibilities of hernias, muscle strain, and even hip fracture. Nothing turned up, so she referred me to a sports physician. The recommendations was RICE application (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation). No improvement noticed.

The whole time I had largely stopped running. Around February, I gave up on my entry to the Boston Marathon, and forfeited the entry fee. To make matters worse my diet had deteriorated and I had put on about 20 pounds since November.

Early April I gave up on any resolution (no surgery!) and decided to start running slowly. Around this time I decided to take another crack at resolving the pain by working out using forward lunges. (See http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/movements/forward-lunge.html) I noticed improvement immediately. Further, adding 35 pound weights in each arm seemed to work even better. I figured it out! I'm back!

-Em