Chronic groin injury
Hello,
I have had groin pain for almost a year now. I’m going to summarize my problem then give more details about how it started and what I have done since the injury.
The pain has changed and sometimes even gotten better. It started getting better after I had ART (Active-release technique). When I first started the ART it was hard to open my hip out (meaning turning the knee out to the side). It felt tight and I would feel a locking and/or pinching feeling in the hip. This got better each time and even now is much better but still a little tight and occasionally get that sharp pinch. My inner thigh (groin area) was the originally site of injury and by the time I went for ART I only felt it when I would squeeze my thighs together. After about 6 weeks of ART my adductor started getting sore. It would seem better after the ART but a couple days after it would start hurting again. At the time I don’t remember what would aggrevate it but now I’m certain that it is movement or stretching. I stopped the ART and went to a joint rehab and sport med. clinic in LA. They do prolotherapy and laser light therapy. It seems better after the treatments but seemed worse after the exercises they gave me to do. The exercise that I think triggered it was hip flexion (lying on back and raising knee up using a band on foot for resistance). The second time I tried to do it without resistance and still aggravated it. The third time I was attempting to do a hip flexor stretch. It is hard to tell what I can and cannot do because it doesn’t happened right away it is after the stretch or exercise that I notice something is wrong.
I did have x-rays and MRI both showed nothing.
I also saw a sport medical doctor after about 5-1/2 months since initial injury. He said I had athletic pubalgia. He said do nothing for 6 months, no stretching or any kind of exercise. If it doesn’t get better he would recommend special type of surgery in Germany. He didn’t write this in the report but said that he felt there was probably a small tear that didn’t show on the MRI.
After about 6 weeks of doing nothing it didn’t seem like it was getting better so that is when I decided to do the ART.
Could something like this really heal with no stretching or exercise for 6 months?
Does anybody have any suggestions on what might be going?
Some history about the me and the injury.
I am 38 female adult figure skater. I have been skating for 7 years.
In April 2006 I stopped skating because of pain to my left adductor. The pain started gradually over about 2 weeks. Mostly occurred when attempting a single axel. I have been trying to learn this jump for years. The stress on the body was from the take off. I got a sharp pain when I would try to attempt that jump so decided I would take time off from skating. It was mostly only painful to touch and adduction. I had some massage and then a month later it seemed better. It wasn’t until I tried to skate that I could tell it wasn’t better and still hurt when I skated.
I then tried some acupuncture and physical therapy. The PT did deep tissue work and it seemed to be worse after. It was now hurting a lot to sit, mostly aching in my left buttock. It didn’t improve and the PT recommended I see orthopedic dr.and get MRI.
For 3 weeks before I went to the doctor I didn’t do anything… no PT, no stretching and it seemed better but still hurt to sit and felt locking, occasionally pinching and limited range of motion when trying to open hip (turn knee out). Doctor suggested I skated again before getting an MRI in the hopes if something was wrong it would show up better if aggravated.
So 3 months after originally injury I skated for about 1 hr a day for 3 days each day it seems a little sore (tight) but not really that painful to skate. It would get very sore after skating. The day before the MRI when I tried to skate I got the sharp pain again in inner thigh so I stopped. I had x-rays and MRI in July and both were unremarkable.
The doctor just recommended PT. This was a different PT and they did ultrasound. It didn’t help. I also got chiropractic adjustments and massage. 2-1/2 months of that still in pain. That is when I went to the sports medical doctor who told me I have pubalgia.
Since going to the Joint rehab clinic I have had another set of MRI with contrast and again unremarkable.
Oh I meant to mention that I have been a client of Alwyn Cosgrove. This was about 3 years ago and I was always doing off-ice training to stay in good shape. I do know there must have been a weakness to this left adductor area because I have injured the same area before I think at least 2 times in the last 7 years I had to stop skating because it hurt. The first time it recovered in about 2 weeks the second time was about 6 weeks.
Look forward to any suggestions.
Thanks,
Caroline
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