Racer X Virtual Trainer

Hi there

More or less ten years ago I fell down while practicing and i sticked my handlebars on the left lower part of my belly. Nothing happened but a few months later I started to feel some kind of an estrange felling around that zone. It was no pain but something was wrong. I rapidelly started to feel like a pulled muscle that went from that zone on my belly, went down through my left testicle, continue through the inner part of my left leg and ended on my knee.

I´ve tried to explain this throughout the years to several doctors getting no answers at all. I´ve been asked to do all the tests you can imagine but everything was normal, so usually the Doc was unable to give me an answer.
Ten years later I feel exactly the same. When I lay down on my back and I touch that zone hard with my fingers like trying to find something inside I feel like the weirdest sensation going through all the places I have been talking about (belly, testicle, leg and I missed to mention earlier the lower left side of my back too) When I touch that part I can fell clearly that everything is connected.

I know that I´m asking for an impossible thing but it would be amazing just to hear your opinion about the whole thing and if you have any suggestions about seeing someone in particular.

Thanks a lot

Regards

Jaime

Hi Jaime;

Your description sounds suspiciously like an injury to the hip flexor muscle (called your iliopsoas or just psoas). If you received a blunt trauma to it, the scar tissue accumulation that results can cause structures to adhere or "stick" to one another. In the case of the hip flexor, it lies next to nerves that can refer pain or altered sensation to all the areas you mentioned (scrotum, groin, lower back and down to the knee).

I think you would be wise to seek out a sport medicine physician or sport specialist chiropractor who could send you for an MRI to investigate the status of your hip flexor. Some clinics can even do a dynamic ultrasound of the area to look for adhesions in the hip flexor - this might be helpful.

If this did turn out to be the cause of your symptoms, you could look to find a practitioner who does myofascial release (of which Active Release is a type) to have them try to break down some of the adhesions in the area. This type of treatment is painful (and might temporarily reproduce your referred pain symptoms) but it just might help.

Good luck,

Dr. Dale Macdonald

_________________
Dr. Dale Macdonald
Chiropractic Sport Specialist
Director – Elite Sport Performance

Dr. Macdonald

Thanks a lot for your answer. You can not imagine how usefull it is for me. I will follow your advice, now i have something to start with on the right path, FINALLY.

Warm regards.

Jaime

The good thing about this is that it does not sound like a serious injury since it has lingered for 10 years. I'm wondering if it bothers you while you are riding or training or if it is just something that you notice when you poke at it? Either way, great advice from Dr. Macdonald.

_________________
Tim Crytser
Your Virtual Trainer
www.racerxVT.com

Hi Tim

No, it does not hurt while trainning or riding but it is been so long that it has become a PERMANENT feeling, i mean,some days I almost forget that is there and others I am always making movements to strech my leg and my back trying to relax everything, but i can tell you that everyday, i feel the synthoms i´ve explained above.

Thanks for your interest!

Regards

Jaime

Chronic injuries like that suck for sure. I have a weird sensation/pain in my left chest that comes and goes that I think happened in High school (25 years ago!) from weight lifting. Been to tons of Doctors and had so many test I can't even begin to tell you and no one was ever able to give me an explanation. After a while I just gave up and learned to live with it. Once I came to the conclusion that it wasn't anything serious (most likely nerve damage) I just learned to live with it. Hopefully you will be able to find an answer!

_________________
Tim Crytser
Your Virtual Trainer
www.racerxVT.com

Dear Dr. McDonald

How are you? I followed your advice and finallly found a doctor who, reading what you told me, finally understood my problem.

As i suspected, you were absolutelly right. I have been recieving massages for the last two weeks and i can say that i feel better now. As you mention, they are painfull but at the same time, realxing to me, kind of weird, like the injury itself.

I would like to ask you what kind of rehab do you recommend with this type of injury, as my doctor says i have to stop doing exercices that move my hip such as running or cycling.

Is massages and stretching the only thing i can do? is surgery and option? Do you recommend stop doing exercise while on rehab? I hope not because i really need it!

Thanks a lot for your time and support.

Regards

Jaime Arnes.

Hi Jaime;

Glad to hear you're making progress. Of course without seeing you in person I can only speculate, but I'd be suprised if surgery would be an option for you as the act of making incisions leads to more scar tissue, which is something in your case that you would probably want to avoid.

Highly repetitive activities such as running or cycling can lead to repetitive strain injuries, and chronic repetitive strain injuries are characterized by the deposition of scar tissue...again something you probably want to avoid. In moderation however I can't imagine why a bit of running or cycling would be bad. You likely just need to be creative in the ways you move your body...have you tried pilates? I prefer pilates over yoga for my patients as it involves taking your joints and muscles through their full functional range of motion while maintaining muscular contraction. This protects the joints better than yoga in my opinion and will allow you to strengthen muscles in some pretty creative ways.

Thanks for the update and good luck!

Best,

Dr. Dale Macdonald

_________________
Dr. Dale Macdonald
Chiropractic Sport Specialist
Director – Elite Sport Performance