Question
I believe I strained my groin muscles in March of 2006 by increasing the resistance on a Nordic track to much too soon. My GP said that a groin strain could take up to 9 months to heal. By Jan, 2007 I felt almost completely healed and started to exercise vigorously again. Unfortunately I went too fast too soon, and injured myself again. While going 4 miles an hour on a treadmill, I heard and felt a sound like “phft” twice. I was then diagnosed with an inguinal hernia. In March 2007 I had the inguinal hernia repaired. But ever since my groin has been swollen and painful. The surgeon says the surgery was successful and he does not know why I have swelling and a painful groin. I recently went to a sports medicine doctor. After examining me he said he thought I might have arthritis in my hip and he ordered x-rays. The x-rays showed that I did indeed have arthritis in the hip. My sports medicine doctor thought that was the cause of my swelling and pain in the groin. He said he was 75% confident. The aspect of the situation that makes me not confident about the sports medicine doctor’s diagnosis is that it does not seem to fit with the history of my injury. That is I think in both instances, I experienced an injury and not a reaction to arthritis in the hip. I have been struggling with the pain in my groin now for over a year. My sports medicine doctor said I should try recumbent bicycling and swimming for two months and then come back. He said then one way we could find out if the hip was the cause of the groin pain was to inject cortisone into the hip. He said that if the cortisone injected into the hip eliminated the pain in the groin, while not a permanent solution, it would prove that the hip was causing the pain in the groin. My confusion is the contradiction between treating the groin pain as a result of an injury or treating it as a result of arthritis in the hip. Can you help me get clearer about this? Is my sports medicine doctor on the right track? Thank you for your consideration. Irv Seidman
Answer
In a situation like this, the hip injection makes a lot of sense. If the hip pain improves with the injection, then the pain is likely due to arthritis. Alternatively, it may be useful to get a second opinion.
