Just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences. I’ve been having some abdominal pain for the past week. It started Monday when I felt a dull soreness across the row of abs above the belly button. I also had a weird feeling in the lower left abdominal area around where the muscle V’s off towards the groin. Along with this is a kind of cramping feeling that comes and goes but is never really painful sort of behind the left testicle.
The pain in the upper abs has gone away and the lower ab and nut feeling has somewhat diminished. However I still get the feeling like I’ve been hit in the nuts occasionally. I did some heavy Prowler work on Sunday and the next day was when it started. I never felt anything while I was training though. I’m hoping I just strained something and didn’t give myself a hernia. Been taking it easy all week and I don’t see or feel any type of protrusion anywhere. Anyone ever have something similar??
Sounds similar to what I have been experiencing, which is a very tight psoas muscle. I feel the “nut” pain mostly when I’m walking and it goes up my abdomen on that side. Also refers pain to the lower back and general hip area in my case. Do you sit a lot during the day in the same position?
Been seeing a chiro, but hasn’t improved much, only temporarily. I think it’s related to posture/sitting in the same position all day.
Thanks guys. I got a massage the other day and my therapist really dug into the lower abs and the hip flexors it seems to have gotten a little better, she said she could feel a small tear in the muscle in the area but nothing was protruding. I still get this sticking pain in the lower left ab area and it almost feels internal sometimes, like I’m having some intestinal distress if you know what I mean. Been taking it easy this week in the gym but today I felt a little strain on some pressdowns. Gonna rest up through the weekend and see the doc next week if it doesn’t improve.
[quote]inkcreep wrote:
Thanks guys. I got a massage the other day and my therapist really dug into the lower abs and the hip flexors it seems to have gotten a little better, she said she could feel a small tear in the muscle in the area but nothing was protruding. I still get this sticking pain in the lower left ab area and it almost feels internal sometimes, like I’m having some intestinal distress if you know what I mean. Been taking it easy this week in the gym but today I felt a little strain on some pressdowns. Gonna rest up through the weekend and see the doc next week if it doesn’t improve.[/quote]
If your therapist is right about the small tear, it confirms my suspicion that you may have a grade one strain. This can take as much as 16 weeks to fully recover. Also, if you’re taking heavy doses of fish oil or other blood thinners, the chance of muscle strains are higher.
You need to keep a very close on that area. You can check by performing a valsava maneuver and look for a bump that you can press back in.
BBB and LevelHeaded will know better than I on this. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if some cases of inguinal hernia could have been prevented when the individual stopped and actually rested when the strain was relatively minor (i.e. grade 1 or less).
As for the press downs, smart money says you were doing the most popular variation in which you face the weight stack and lean forward and down during the movement. This involves a certain amount of flexion at the spine which, of course, places strain where you least want it right now. You’ll need to modify this and other lifts you perform until the strain has completely healed.
Thanks. I’ve been frequently checking the area and feel no bulge. If I lean back slightly and feel a stretch in the area I can see a light bulge, but it is hard so I think it’s just the edge of my oblique, my left oblique is slightly larger than my right anyway. I really don’t feel or see anything different on the side with the pain. Now that I think of it I’ve had discomfort in this area before almost like a deep pinching feeling. I’m hoping it hasn’t been strained for a while and I finally blew it out. And yes I am taking high dosages of fish oil. Upwards around 12-16 gm a day. As for the pressdowns, they were being done very strict with an upright posture and elbows glued to the sides, I was going light and just really putting it all in the tris, not sure why this aggravated it. But yet I can do knee raises ( experiment) with no strain.
[quote]inkcreep wrote:
Thanks. I’ve been frequently checking the area and feel no bulge. If I lean back slightly and feel a stretch in the area I can see a light bulge, but it is hard so I think it’s just the edge of my oblique, my left oblique is slightly larger than my right anyway. I really don’t feel or see anything different on the side with the pain. Now that I think of it I’ve had discomfort in this area before almost like a deep pinching feeling. I’m hoping it hasn’t been strained for a while and I finally blew it out. And yes I am taking high dosages of fish oil. Upwards around 12-16 gm a day. As for the pressdowns, they were being done very strict with an upright posture and elbows glued to the sides, I was going light and just really putting it all in the tris, not sure why this aggravated it. But yet I can do knee raises ( experiment) with no strain.[/quote]
It’s impossible to give guarantees via an online forum; however, it appears to be a grade one strain.
What interests me about your comment is that your left oblique is significantly more hypertrophied than the right. Unless I misread your earlier posts, this is also where the strain is (although it is premature to rule out hernia - although it appears less likely).
I don’t believe this is a coincidence. In other words, the fact that your left oblique is visually larger than your right tells me that you are most likely engaging that side more.
Let’s take your tricep push downs, for example. Even with excellent form - indeed, in an effort to maintain excellent form (as defined in this case as a “motionless” torso) - there is still a certain amount of anti-extension within the movement. There could also be a degree of anti-rotation depending on the angle of the cable in relation to your torso. This involves the internal/external obliques (as well as the rectus abdominis). Is it possible that you are performing this or other lifts in such a way to engage the left side of the abdominal musculature more? I would not rule that out at this point.
And why is there no discomfort when performing leg raises…? It could be that your psoas major/minor, iliacus, rectus femoris, and possibly even the sartorius (yes, one of its functions is hip flexion) were acting in concert in a synergistically dominant manner. The body simply hates being in pain; it will do many strange things to avoid it.
Thanks for the insight.
You know, I’ve always been very conscious of my form and been a fanatic about staying balanced. I recently have recovered from a broken left fibula and I’m starting to see how 5 months of no lower body work and being stuck in that damn boot threw me out of whack. Once I started squatting and deadlifting again problems started. Because of course easing back into things doesn’t register well with me, lol. I’ve also spent close to the past 11 years wearing a gun belt and sitting in a car ( been LEO for a while) and my massage therapist has pointed out to my how out of whack my hips are. I was even having neck, shoulder and arm issues due to my hips being offset. It’s amazing how everything is connected and can usually be traced back to an imbalance somewhere in the body.
Sounds like a grade 1 tear - because your injury sounds pretty much the same as the one I got diagnosed. Doc could not give me any stretches/ rehab exercises - except do nothing for about 2 weeks except walk. Like a fool I ignored him, and I was still suffering with it 3 months later.
It sounds like a strain, but to be safe you should get an ultrasound to see if it is a inguinal hernia, just spend the money and find out, it will put your mind at ease
I just had inguinal hernia repair , and I had no bulge at all . Doc found it during a physical using the finger-in-your-balls-and-turn-your-head-and-cough test.
[quote]marlboroman wrote:
just a heads up on the hernia deal…
I just had inguinal hernia repair , and I had no bulge at all . Doc found it during a physical using the finger-in-your-balls-and-turn-your-head-and-cough test.[/quote]
How did they repair it?? What’s your down time/restrictions looking like??
[quote]marlboroman wrote:
just a heads up on the hernia deal…
I just had inguinal hernia repair , and I had no bulge at all . Doc found it during a physical using the finger-in-your-balls-and-turn-your-head-and-cough test.[/quote]
How did they repair it?? What’s your down time/restrictions looking like??[/quote]
it was an open repair (versus lapro) using mesh. this was my second , and was a breeze compared to my first about 13 years ago .
surgery was August 1st . officially I had a 20 pound weight restriction . my second , and final , follow up visit with the surgeon is September 6th , at which time I suspect I will be cleared to resume all activity…so 5 weeks of light duty .
BUT…I started back working upper body after 15 days , doing floor press only…with feet tucked up to butt . this took all pressure off the groin , as opposed to pressing in a full arch with leg drive ,which puts quite a bit of stress on the groin . sometime in the 4th week I started bare-bar squatting . at this point I could tell that everything was going good…or else I wouldnt have done that . I squatted up to 135 this past Thursday . felt good …but wobbly as fuck . hoping to be back to mid/upper 300’s by January .
just from the initial post, don’t think it’s a hernia. I have an inguinal tear on both sides, one has been repaired, the other not. mine at least is a sharp, excruciating pain that drops me. only happens when I move while sitting wrong. can lift heavy with no issue.
[quote]koubanator wrote:
just from the initial post, don’t think it’s a hernia. I have an inguinal tear on both sides, one has been repaired, the other not. mine at least is a sharp, excruciating pain that drops me. only happens when I move while sitting wrong. can lift heavy with no issue.[/quote]
pain seems to be a huge variable with hernias . neither of mine hurt much at first . after about a year , I could feel the first one “pinching”…for lack of a better word . I got spooked about squatting right when I found about the 2nd one , so I quit squatting and focused on deads , with no pain at all for about 6 months . then it started to not feel right when pulling , so I got it fixed . but never did it hurt bad .
[quote]koubanator wrote:
just from the initial post, don’t think it’s a hernia. I have an inguinal tear on both sides, one has been repaired, the other not. mine at least is a sharp, excruciating pain that drops me. only happens when I move while sitting wrong. can lift heavy with no issue.[/quote]
pain seems to be a huge variable with hernias . neither of mine hurt much at first . after about a year , I could feel the first one “pinching”…for lack of a better word . I got spooked about squatting right when I found about the 2nd one , so I quit squatting and focused on deads , with no pain at all for about 6 months . then it started to not feel right when pulling , so I got it fixed . but never did it hurt bad .
[/quote]
consider yourself lucky. lol. i have a high pain tolerance, but this one is different. as long as I can squat/pull heavy with out any discomfort/pain, and the intestines don’t drop down, I don’t give a shit. but I know the day will come when I need to go in and get both repaired again. hopefully I have insurance then…