Lower Abdominal Strain

Had/have that………pain in the you know what. Became chronic and really still fighting it. Mine was really low, about where a hernia would be, then pain radiates across. Seems to tie into adductors and get slight groin strains quite often now. Rule out hernias first–I went to a couple doctors to make sure. Been to multiple PTs (which didn't improve my opinon of them as they all preach the same thing and then hand you the same print out sheet of standard stretches to do and don't really look at or know the mechanics). Mine hurt the most after suddenly applying forces from a static position (for instance, accelerations or even work on max v hurt). Tempo was easier for me. Rest unfortunately is best, I've been doing cariocas, side squats/lunges, etc. to strengthen which seems to help. Make sure you warm up very well and get the body temp up. Look up osteitis pubis, friend of mine had it (he had some very knowledgeable medical aid), don't think it gets diagnosed very often but fairly common, could be what you've got.

Good luck.

I'm not sure what LASPRINTKING has, but what fasterthanu describes sounds exactly like what I had. Mine too was really low and deep in the abdominals and radiated out to the adductors and rt. groin. I had it for over a year and a half and I would keep straining my groin/worsening the injury, especially with sudden explosive movements, most notably going into a split leg position (lunges, split legged squats, LJ's, pop-ups, etc.) or starting to accelerate. It had an isidious onset (gradual, with dire consequences), and most activity became impossible, for it would feel like it would start to grab/ball up and then pulsate with horrible pain. At its worse, it even hurt to cough. I tried the whole rehab bit (ultrasound, heat/ice treatments, stretches, resistance band exercises to strengthen 'muscle imbalances'), but none of that ever worked. I even spent 3 months doing nothing beyond walking. I finally did my research. Osteitis pubis came up as a possibility, but it actually turned out to be a sports hernia in my case. The first couple of doctors had eliminated this as a possibility because it didn't show up in an MRI or with the office test. :puzzled: A sports hernia is not actually a hernia though, so it won't be recognized by those tests (though it may develop into one later). As I understand it, there is a disruption to/ weakening of the inguinal canal, but there is no actual herniation evident. You can only use a history of injury/symptoms evaluation, while eliminating other possibilities, in order to arrive at this assessment. I went to a surgeon who specializes in sports hernias, he made such an assessment, I had the surgery, and was back sprinting and jumping again after three weeks. Some doctors don't believe sports hernias actually exist as such, but to the many football players and hockey players who have had them recently, they are very real and require surgical repair. Usually, when it first starts to develop, if you lay off of it, get some rest, and then change the setup of your workouts, it can go away. If you push through the injury, however, it will only get worse and become chronic. Rest and a restructured plan is really the only remedy in the early stages of the injury. I believe mine developed because I was pounding heavy weights at the time, with little recovery between sets, and using higher repetitions with this heavy weight. Having not recovered for the next session, I would go and sprint, often on a tight jogging track in my health club. I also threw in jumps on a worn and torn body. The injury often originates due to shearing forces across the lower abdomen initiated by adductor action. Sprinting on a tight indoor track could cause it. For hockey players (it actually is also called a 'hockey hernia'), cross-cutting action while accelerating on ice could spark it. The final blows for me could have been going to failure on split legged squats and then twisting while falling away from the bench, slipping on the ice outside my house and trying to fight off the fall instead of going with it, and accidentally stepping on a dog's tail and twisting away from it as he yelped. So I guess you could say it was a series of unfortunate events that, when compiled, created this mess of an injury in my lower regions. I wouldn't recommend carioka, straight leg bounds, or lunges while trying to recover, for those just accentuated the problem. Again, I can't say if this is what either of you has, but I thought I'd throw down my account, should it be helpful in figuring out your injuries. I know I was in hell during that time. Once I got it diagnosed and fixed, I returned to full activity and couldn't feel better than I do now. :tumble: