Herniography in athletes with groin pain

Understanding “Sports Hernia” (Athletic Pubalgia): The Anatomic and Pathophysiologic Basis for Abdominal and Groin Pain in Athletes

“…Two recent reviews document well this confusion [5,6]. A huge number of other terms and diagnoses are introduced -osteitis pubis, hockey groin, "Gilmore's" groin, gracilis syndrome, pectineus syndrome, to name a few [7][8][9][10][11][12]. There seems a tremendous amount of overlap among both the diagnoses and terms used, and it is often difficult to distinguish the objectivity of the various observations.…”

Herniographic Appearance of the Lateral Inguinal Fossa

“…Development of a true hernia from a processus vaginalis, revealed at herniography, was recently reported in l of 19 patients followed for four years (18). However, the authors concluded that an asymptomatic processus vaginalis is no indication for herniorrhaphy.…”

“…When present, they are usually herniographically unequivocal. However, some reports have claimed that small peritoneal protrusions represent early stages of clinical hernia and that they can cause pain (7,18). The normal herniographic appearance of the lateral inguinal fossa is not fully agreed upon.…”

Loss of range of motion of the hip joint: a hypothesis for etiology of sports hernia

“…Athletic pubalgia 1 , sportsman's hernia 2 , incipient hernia 3 , osteitis pubis 1 , Gilmore's groin 4 , hockey groin syndrome 5 and Ashby's inguinal ligament enthesopathy 6 are some of the terms that have complete or partial overlap with sports hernia. Osteitis pubis is a separate recognised condition, but has been commonly associated with the obscure groin pain 7 and misinterpreted as sports hernia. Having said that, hernia is not an appropriate term for this condition, since, in many cases, an actual hernia is not seen 8,9 .…”

“…Hackney first coined the term sports hernia because of the similar pathology as in inguinal hernia 1 . Several theories exist in the literature regarding the cause of sports hernia 7,[10][11][12][13][14] ; most theories implicating the overuse syndrome. According to one theory, hip abduction, adduction, and flexion-extension with the resultant pelvic motion produce a shearing force across the pubic symphysis, leading to stress on the inguinal wall musculature perpendicular to the fibres of the fascia and muscle 3,15 .…”