# weird groin pull....long story



## sponger (May 14, 2006)

About ten years ago, I pulled my groin while pushing a heavily loaded cart. Yeah, I know that was stupid. 

But, I didn't know I pulled my groin until several months later when I started getting a weird symptom. While I would be sitting down, I would feel like a "jolt" in my right testicle. It was like somebody hooked it up to a mild electrical charge for just a moment. 

It wasn't even a painful "jolt." It was just sudden and strong.

So I went to the doctor, who did I guess what were "standard" groin pull diagnosis procedures. He pressed hard against different areas of my groin area and asked, "Does this hurt?" Each time I honestly said no. The only symptom was that "jolt" in my right testicle.

So, he thought maybe it was bowel-related, because I also had problems with sharp bowel pains after weight lifting. I forgot to mention that. BTW, that particular issue no longer affects me.

Anyhow, I did a sigmoidoscopy, which found nothing. So, by way of process of elimination, they concluded it was a groin pull. 

Eventually, the "jolts" stopped. But last year, I got a sharp pain in my upper thigh when I was doing crunches. Eventually, I couldn't do crunches. But, strangely enough, I could ride my bike without feeling any pain. And when I wasn't doing crunches, I felt no pain.

Doc said it was a groin pull anyway. He didn't do a press on the groin area test. That doesn't produce any pain anyway.

Since then, I took several "healer" breaks lasting several week each, with one lasting about 2 months. 

But, now the pain is back in my upper thigh /groin area and even in my right testicle at times. 

I thought groin pulls were supposed to heal after a few weeks with consistent rest. But, I think this is that decade old injury coming back, and probably never will go away no matter how long I rest.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do? Doc says to avoid anything that aggravates it, but that means never riding again. That's something I really don't want to consider. 

I've read that acupuncture can be used to treat groin pulls. Anyone have any experience with that?

Thanks.


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## soccerdude (Aug 6, 2006)

I'm no doctor but having been the manager of a men's soccer team for years I do have lots of experience with muscle pulls with a majority of them groin pulls. The only way it will heal is to leave it alone. By that I mean not to stretch it. Many people think that as it heals you need to stretch it a little to keep it from tightening up. Wrong. All this does is pull the muscle apart while it is trying to put itself back together. If you stretch it, the muscle will take forever, like a year or more, to heal or may never heal completely at all. You need to do whatever it takes to keep the muscle from stretching and when the pain goes away completely you need to wait at least another month before you try to stretch it. Even minor groin injuries can take months to heal and it sucks to be limited with what you can do while waiting but it's important that you take whatever time is necessary for it to heal completly. If this means no biking, running, swimming, whatever then so be it. Most of the men on my soccer team that had groin injuries pulled it slightly or less than severe. We had very few severe pulls and none that required surgery. Most of the injuries took a minimum of 4 to 6 months to heal and then they waited a month then started to stretch. Severe pulls took over a year. I know this is not what you want to hear but it's the only way to heal a pull fully.


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## sponger (May 14, 2006)

soccerdude said:


> I know this is not what you want to hear but it's the only way to heal a pull fully.


Yeah you're right that it sucks to hear, but at the same time it's nice to hear from someone with experience with this telling me that it's only a matter of time given the proper rest. 6 mos - 1 yr is much more preferable to indefinitely.

Still, I did think it was odd that this pull doesn't show the "typical" signs such as sensitivity to pressure and, until recently, pain only while doing certain exercises such as crunches. But you didn't seem surprised by any of that, so I guess it is a "conventional" groin pull after all.

I made an appointment with an acupuncturist not only for my groin but also my back which tightens up on me occasionally. So, I guess I'll wait and see if that produces any noticeable results before writing off exercise for the next year or so.

Thanks.


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## soccerdude (Aug 6, 2006)

You're more than welcome. I'd just like to add that you don't have to give up on exercise all together. Find an exercise that doesn't put pressure on your groin and get to it. I had a pretty bad groin pull years ago and the funny thing was that I couldn't run but I could do squats, leg curls, and leg presses plus I could swim. It only hurt when I ran. So I stopped running and concentrated on the things I could do. Once it was healed it took quite a while to get my running back into gear but at least I didn't hurt. 

I'm not exactly sure what a conventional goin pull is so I just go by severity. Even the slightest of pulls need to be taken seriously or it could grow into a bigger problem. Sounds like you're going to let it heal for as long as it takes and that's good to hear. Try telling a competative soccer player he has to sit on the bench and lose all his running fitness for a few months. They very rarely listen and end up re-injuring themselves just as they are about to be completely healed. Impatient.


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