Sports Hernia/ Gilmore’s Groin
Help please!
Anyone ever suffered with one of these?
Anyone ever managed to get it treated by surgery on the NHS?
I’ve probably had this hernia for a number of years but severely aggravated it early in August this year on a longish run. Frustratingly it’s never settled down despite lots of core strength work and 8 weeks of no running. Out of sheer desperation I’ve recently tried to get back into running but there’s a constant nagging pain even at a slow jogging pace. Currently going down the NHS route and after an initial surgical assessment I’m now waiting for an ultrasound scan. This probably won’t happen until December but my suspicion is that even if the hernia is confirmed it won’t be a condition considered severe enough to surgically repair on the NHS.
So I think I need to resign myself to self-funded private treatment if I want to get back to some proper running!
Anyone able to recommend a surgeon/clinic and whether to opt for a mesh or stitch repair?
Based in West Yorkshire but prepared to travel.
Most recent casualty in my race calendar is Snowdonia Marathon on Saturday! Although looking at the weather forecast for Saturday maybe it’s not such a bad thing.
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Answers
I’m still waiting for a date for the ultrasound scan so I’m hoping to continue running, but avoiding racing, whilst waiting. Hopefully the scan will help me decide how advantageous surgery could be. Thanks for taking the time to comment Zed100. I’ll update here once I’ve had the scan.
Agree with TT about the better physio you might get if you went privately - I was quite surprised at the lack of pretty much anything provided to my partner after the ops themselves! I guess the waiting time would also be worth considering - my partner didn't actually have to wait long at all for his ops, but I'm sure this could vary wildly.
I don't know much about types of repair other than open mesh surgery, but this generally seems to be a fairly straightforward procedure with a few weeks of recovery time needed - if you do go down this route, just be very careful in the first day or two not to do anything that might aggravate/tear it, even if you're dosed up on painkillers and it therefore feels ok! After that, light exercise (walking and so on) is encouraged, from what I remember. I know someone who was back doing a bit of cycling within 2 weeks of his op and doing some light running a couple of weeks after that, which is probably on the quick side for recovery, but encouraging nonetheless. My partner took a bit longer to get fully back into things but is doing more running now than ever before. Good luck with it all!
Let’s hope we all get through Covid safely and get back to some racing soon. Not that I’m holding out too much hope for the rescheduled VLM!