Groin Problems and MRI Results, Help

Hey guys,

Hopefully I’m not as fucked as I think I am. Long story short, something happened to my adductor tendon in my left leg 3 years ago that caused it to thicken. It’s not torn (I believe), just thickened. I had two MRIs which showed some thickening which was evidence of tendinois. I had physical therapy which didn’t do anything. My symptom for the problem was/is weird: tightness in the groin muscles so much it caused pain to the “parts”.

The pulling was even noticable. I wish I was making that up as the doctors thought I was always crazy but whenever I would start lifting after a break, the pain would be much worse and the pull would be worse. I would get spasms in all the muscles beneath the groin. Another thing I always pointed out to the doctors is the pain I get right where the adductors connect to the pelvis right below the testicles. There response was always wonderful “I don’t know what’s down there.”

Now, I’ve seen 5 urologists, 3 sports doctors, 2 A.R.T. chiros, and I think I just f#$cked myself by getting prolotherapy shots to try to repair the tendon. The result of this is that my tendons on the top left of my pubic bones feel tight and almost cord like now. They are stiff as hell and I’m scared they are damaged. They hurt if I do lunges and this is after 6 months of rest after my last injections. It gets worse with exercise, but I was able to do things like box and some weightlifting.

This new pain prompted me to get my third MRI. Here were the results:

"Both femoral heads are intact. There is no evidence of avascular necrosis. There is no abnormal bone marrow edema within either femoral head or neck or within the remainder of the visualized osseous structures of the pelvis. Redomonstration of low T1 signal within the femoral heads bilaterally which is symmetric and consistent with regions of sceloris as described in the prior study.

There is a physiologic amount of joint fluid. There are no abnormal bursal fluid collections. There are no abnormal signal changes within the visualized muscles. Specifically, no abnormal signal changes are demonstrated in the region of the left adductor longus musscle or tendon. There is minal asymmetry of the adductor longus tendon, slightly more prominent on the left.

However, this is felt to be within nromal anatomic variation. There are no abnormal signal changes within or surrounding the tendon. No abnormalities are seen within the visualized protions of the pelvic viscera.

IMPRESSIONS: 1) Subtle asymptey of the adductor longus tenons with slightly larger tendon the left side which is a nonspecific finding and of uncertain clinical significance. There are no abnormal changes within or surrounding the tendon to suggest inflammatory changes or significant tendiopathy. 2) Redemonstration of sclerosis involving the weightbearing portions of the femoral heads as previously described."

So it showed nothing new. Everything like this was stated on the old MRI and I’m at a loss on what I’m feeling on the top of my pelvis.
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So my question to everyone here (the ones who are still reading, thank you) is as follows:

  1. Is there anything I can do about the thickened tendons (both from the original injury and the shots)? I’ve tried rest, dmso, systematic enzymes, cissus, etc etc. Nothing worked.

  2. If that prolo doctor messed me up and tore a tendon, how would I still be able to do exercises? While I can’t do everything, I’m not super limited. I only get pains with squats and lunges. If it was a tear or something similar, how would I be able to do these?

  3. What are my options now? I’ve tried everyting I know. I’m see another sports doctor in a few weeks to see if the previous doctor damaged me. I keep thinking in the back of my head the doctor told the radiologist to say nothing. Probably not true, but it seems weird this new pain didn’t show up.

For all those that have any input, I’m extremely grateful! This has really messed me up and I just don’t want to deal with it anymore.

I had a similar set of symptoms that were actually mainly related to a sports hernia (Gilmore’s groin). This is a partial tear of the ingrinal ligament from the conjoined tendon. (So all above the pelvis) but it seemed apart from other problems to result in adductor tendon problems whenever I tried to train.

Might be worth suggesting to the doc? They don’t all know about this one (or didn’t a few years ago).

A sports hernia should show inflammation of the adductor tendons and pubic bone where the adductors, rectus abdominous and olbiques originate and insert.

Have you had the MRI with contrast, MR arthrogram? The docs I used to work with have been doing them to assess the acetabular labrum (ring of cartilage around the socket) for tears or if there is an impingement syndrome.

Thanks guys. My second MRI was done specifically looking for Sports Hernias. I had it done at Northern Western Memorial in Chicago using a special procedure designed for looking for them. I don’t believe contrast was used, they just took more images of the typical areas for sports hernias.

The results said that I had none of the typical signs assoicated with sports hernias. I know MRIs are poor devices for detecting these, so I haven’t ruled it out.

The new doctor was mentioning on the phone I could have problems with my hips causing the pain. I’ll know more when I have my appointment on the 23rd.

The pain from these injections is just burning/searing type pain. But I can still do exercises without weakness. Do you guys think this means it’s just inflammation & tightness or maybe a possible tear?

You hear about guys tearing the bicep tendon and they can’t curl because of the weakness. If I have no weakness, just soreness, does that rule out tendon tears?

[quote]BackInAction wrote:
Thanks guys. My second MRI was done specifically looking for Sports Hernias. I had it done at Northern Western Memorial in Chicago using a special procedure designed for looking for them. I don’t believe contrast was used, they just took more images of the typical areas for sports hernias.

The results said that I had none of the typical signs assoicated with sports hernias. I know MRIs are poor devices for detecting these, so I haven’t ruled it out.

The new doctor was mentioning on the phone I could have problems with my hips causing the pain. I’ll know more when I have my appointment on the 23rd.

The pain from these injections is just burning/searing type pain. But I can still do exercises without weakness. Do you guys think this means it’s just inflammation & tightness or maybe a possible tear?[/quote]

Sorry bro I’m no doctor I just thought I’d raise sport hernia cause my first three doctors didn’t know the condition existed. The scan won’t show it anyway… The test is the doc sticks his finger up through where your pipes connect your testicles (inverting the scrotum). If the area is inflamed you scream the building down, if not you just feel a loss of dignity.

I know someone who had similar symptoms but it was actually inflammation between the two sides of the hip bone.

Good luck injuries like this one really suck arse. Just don’t get depressed cause you can’t squat properly like I did and give up training for a year.

Thanks Lou. I’ll definitely ask the doctor to perform this test when I see him. I definitely know something is up, I’m just not sure what it is. Appreciate it man.

Hi all,

I have simular syptoms, groin pain, pain in perinium area above testices when I strain my adductors,
I believe I have gilmores groin but doctors dont seem too keen on this theory, the latest doctor has sent me to physio to try and ease my adductors.

your post was monthys ago, is there an update on your condition? i would be interested to see how your treatment went. Iam at my witts end with constant groin pain and nothing working!!

I’m just reading this now, and I realize it’s very old, but – I would extremely encourage you to try Hanna Somatics.

It’s a genius brain-body exercise that works with your nervous system to reset muscular tension and chronic contraction. Very smart technique. It’s helped me beyond belief to do almost a total 180 after a host of postural problems from a groin injury years ago.

Definitely look it up. Hell, if you’re anywhere near NYC, I’ll give you a session. It’s extremely effective, easy to learn, and the kicker is that you don’t need anyone to do anything to you – you heal yourself by recalibrating your own neuromuscular connections.

Look up Hanna Somatics and Thomas Hanna. Briliant shit.

Peace,
Michael