Anyone had a Sports Hernia?

Sammyw23

Hi all,

Pretty sure I'll be having sports hernia operated on in the next month or so (lingering injury pre-cycling which I have ignored for 2 years).

Just wondering if anyone out there has had the same operation and can tell me about their recovery times back into cycling. Ultimately interested in how long it took them to be back to full cycling on the road but also the in between i.e. when did you start any light exercise (indoor bike, gym, turbo etc) too.

I know each case is different and I will need to consult the doc's but it would help me to know from a cyclists perspective.

Thanks

roddixon

What is a sports hernia, where is it?

Sammyw23

Same as a hernia with no tear to stomach muscles so just tendon muscle tears around groin and usually the adductor muscle. Mostly caused by twisting so will not be common to cycling.

I have lived with mine for the last few years because I no longer run or play rugby just cycle which is a restrictive movement and doesn't aggrevate the groin.

It never hurts while on the bike just the whole rest of the time now hence I couldn't leave it any longer.

p.s. if I sound knowledgable, its because I've already had the operation on the other side in 2003!

DF33

Sounds like you should be telling us!

Sammyw23

Haha! I could give you war and peace on recovery back to playing rugby but I was just wondering if any cyclists out there had had the operation and could confirm their recovery times.

PhilPub

This may be of little use but... I had what I thought might be sports hernia, which turned out to be a bone problem instead (femeroacetabular impingement, bony lump on the hip causing inflammation of the surrounding cartilage and groin pain). The only things which aggravated it were running and rowing. Because of the limited range of movement involved in cycling, this was actually the form of exercise I used to keep myself fit whilst waiting for an op (keyhole surgery on the hip), but was also the first thing I could return to afterwards. So I was actively encouraged to get to the gym after just a week, initially starting with light cycling on the exercise bike, then I was cycling outdoors within the following week. So my suspicion is that if cycling doesn't aggaravate the injury at the moment, you should be able to get back to it pretty quickly. On the other hand, even the experts will want to assess things on an individual basis, so I'd make sure you're getting some physio follow-ups after the op and go with their advice.

Sammyw23

Thanks that is of use as that is what I was expecting/hoping to hear. That is the main reason that I have been able to ignore the injury over the last 18 months as cycling does very little to aggrevate it becuase of the restrictive movement and the lack of side to side/twisting of the hips (save that for the dance floor!).
I am hoping that after one weeks full rest, I'll be able to start with light bike sessions in the gym and build up from there. Obviously nothing is certain until after the op and need to listen to the expert advice.

phreak

No idea if it was a sports hernia, but I had my hernia fixed last September. I think with the hernia itself I could have been back on the bike in around a fortnight. Unfortunately they managed to make a bit of a mess of things and it got infected so that added another couple of weeks off whilst that was cleared up.

After that month though I could pretty much do everything, that included leg presses in the gym etc. Obviously my cycling fitness had declined a bit and with it being close season I didn't do much high intensity work at the time, but I dare say I could have if I wanted.

Sammyw23

Just the kind of stuff I want to hear.....just don't want to have to be doing no exercise for 4 weeks but it sounds like "if" all goes ok I should be back doing light exercise in week 2. Thanks all

okgo

I've had two hernias. One open surgery, one keyhole. Keyhole I was back active after about 3 weeks, open surgery it was probably double that before I could do everything properly. Go for
Keyhole.