Is this an adductor pull or something else?

September 18, 2007 12:58 PM

I have a recurring muscle strain, but it's not a hernia.

I went to a urologist, and he said he could feel some "pressure" and it might be a pre-hernia (?) but it was not a hernia. There is nothing scary protruding, and the soreness (which isn't terrible) is about five inches below my right hip bone, just above the crease of my leg, if that makes any sense.

It seems to be aggravated when I lift heavier items with my right arm or overload my should bag to about 20 lbs.

I have insurance and will see either a urologist or other specialist soon.

In the meantime, however, are there exercises and stretches I can do to keep from re-injuring this area, assuming it is a pulled muscle and not something hernial or bacterial?

Another movement that seems to aggravate it is when I am wearing clipless pedals on my recumbent, riding uphill, and pulling on the pedals and/or the handlebars.

Have you experienced this? Does this sound like a standard adductor pull?

posted by craniac to health (7 comments total)

I can't believe people aren't rushing to read and answer a question with "hernia" in the introduction :)
posted by craniac at 1:19 PM on September 18, 2007

some suggestions.
posted by craniac at 1:23 PM on September 18, 2007

I also have what a doctor has described as a pre-hernia, and I've found that the combination of keeping my abs in shape and consciously keeping them a bit tense when exercising and lifting avoids the issue. When I feel some funkiness in the area, it's usually a sign that my form has gotten sloppy.

IANAD, though, and I haven't discussed this approach with mine.
posted by backupjesus at 1:28 PM on September 18, 2007

That's still helpful, thanks. I should have gotten more advice when I was with the doctor, but I was just relieved at the time to not have anything more serious going on that I forgot.
posted by craniac at 2:16 PM on September 18, 2007

Man, back in the early days of ask.mefi any random hernia question would get, like, 30 responses...

Actually, I can't believe I even posted this.
posted by craniac at 10:15 PM on September 18, 2007

I had the exact same reaction -- just so darn glad not to go under the knife!

I remembered this morning that my doctor recommended staying well hydrated, I think under the theory that dehydrated muscles are smaller muscles and thus result in more negative space. Since I already drink crazy amounts of water, I forgot that advice. She also said that it would be very minor surgery to fix it these days if it did get symptomatic, so I shouldn't worry about horror stories from the past.

Of course, she's a doctor, but she's not your doctor. :)
posted by backupjesus at 10:00 AM on September 19, 2007

Followup: according to the doctor and physical therapist, I've pulled my rectus and probably oblique muscles in my stomach/groin area, probably due to sitting hunched over a keyboard all day, shortening the muscle fibers, then pulling them while riding my recumbent uphill with my right knee jutting out to the side because of tenderness in the right testicle due to a cyst.
whew.

Then I just kept re-injuring it. Biomechanics are tricky.
posted by craniac at 11:00 PM on October 18, 2007