Folks I am new to this site, and enjoy reading the forum. I have a question.
I have had this problem with my Abs for sometime, I get something like a knot on the lower left side of my stomach (just below belly button) when I do crunches or leg raises (only 3-4 sets 10-15 reps), stretching makes it ok. The area remains tender for a while, and pulls again with certain movements e.g bending at waist. I have seen a few doctors a Surgeon, even had an MRI done, with no success (not a hernia). It does not bother me with normal activity or while doing other exercises except that my training suffers. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I have had this same symptom for years and it only bothers me when doing certain types of ab exercises. I’ve found it is worse when doing a “stretching” type exercise (swiss ball crunch) followed by a “contracting” type exercise (ab machine with the pads against the shoulders). It feels like a cramping, but in the ab muscles, this can be extremely painful and you can’t function until it goes away. By reaching arms overhead and stretching upwards, I get it to go away and as long as i avoid the bending at the waist in the next few hours, it stays away. It happens 2 or 3 times a year, and only when doing lots of “bodybuilding” ab exercises. Deadlifting or contact sports don’t bother it. Neither do “functional” ab exercises like Coach Davies writes about. Turkish Getup, Saxon Press, Bent Press, Ab Wheel even Hanging Knee Raise with Medicine Ball between knees are fine for me. So I do these types of exercises and avoid crunches, swiss ball crunches and the ab machinery.
I don’t think we can say anything too smart, since your already spoke with Dr.Romano and had MRI done. MRI is a great diagnostic tool,I am surprised it didn’t discover anything. You say it is knot-can you palpate it, is it moveable,does? Maybe it’s a sort of lipoma. Is it always the same, or it grows larger through time? Is it situated under the skin or deeper?
Can you have it punctated? Please,give us more information, your first message wasn’t very clear.
I wish I knew, because the same happens to me on occasion. I remember last year after a set of full hanging leg raises, I bent over to get my surge, and ended up on the ground with my mouth and eyes wide open looking like I just got shot. It felt like a baseball was in my abdomen, a really angry tyrranic baseball. After people stopped laughing and pointing saying “see that’s what he gets for drinking goats milk during his workout!” I stretched and got the pain to go away. It happens every once in a while, and damn I wish I knew what caused it.
Draz,
There is nothing really there (no fatty tumor), atleast I cant really feel it, there is no difference in size, it always feels pretty much the same, its deeper than skin, and fairly smooth (no dents). I haven’t tried moving it, but I can try tonight…OUCH. The pull feels in the lower direction (probably width of a finger) just to the lower left side of the belly button. Yeah I went to the Surgeon (forgot what to call his medical speciality, but he was abdominal wall guy, hernia surgery etc), he poked around on my tummy, while I was in a half situp position, and said that he doesn’t feels anything wrong either…….
Rafeal,
Thats a pretty good description, I think we are talking about the same thing. I have been using the Ab wheel as well it has not given any problems yet…, but I have not heard of the other exercises you mentioned. I will have to look those up
I had something similar but from the sounds of it. mine was more severe. At first I was sure I had a hernia. Several doctors said no. I had an MRI and it showed nothing as well. In fact, some doctors were telling me the pain was all in my head. This went on for about 2+ years. I could not lift at all. Finally I went to see a sports doctor that works with athletes at Princeton University. After speaking with him for about 60 seconds, he made a correct diagnosis. It really was a type of hernia (sort of). It is referred to as Gilmores Groin or sometimes just a sports hernia. It shows on NO x-rays and can only be diagnosed by the symptoms. It is actually thousands of microscopic tears in the muscles around the inquinal canal. The only sure way to tell if this is it is to cut you open. They were about 90% sure this was my problem. I had ot on both sides. They operated with an operation very much like a typical hernia procedure. 6 month later I began lifting again. Another 6 months I had no pain anymore. This is just my story. It may be something to have checked. As I found out, it is fairly common in soccer and hockey athletes. High speeds with lots of twisting. I sure wish I saw a doctor such as these to begin with.