Sporadic pain years after hernia repair

4 years ago I had two bilateral inguinal hernias fixed with TAPP repair.

Ever since I am having episodes of weird feelings in the area of my right groin. The pain can be described as burning and pulling. It’s not severe, but when it shows up, I can feel it permanently and it’s strong enough to make me worry that the hernia might recur. The left groin is completely fine.

It can go weeks without any issues and then all over a sudden, I get days and weeks with this weird sensation, until it suddenly disappears. I couldn’t figure out any connection to lifting or other activities. However, when I move it tends to feel better. It’s most severe while resting.

Do you have any ideas how this could be treated? I read about the possibility of injecting anesthetics. Might this be the way to go?

I would like to prevent another surgery.

Hey @Jan_David , sorry to hear about this. For this issue I recommend either following-up with the prior doc who completed the TAPP procedure or with your current PCP for examination. Sorry we can’t be of much help for this issue at this time. Keep us posted.

Hey Michael, I’ll have it checked by a surgeon next week. I’ll keep you updated.

I went to see the surgeon today. Positively, it is no new hernia, which means no need for a second surgery. That’s the good part.

The bad part is, that this won’t make the pain go away.

He recommended me to get the pain treated by a pain specialist. It is most likely a chronic nerve (n. ilioinguinalis/ genitofemoralis) and/or bone (os pubis) irritation.

Gotcha. That’s definitely good news. We may be able to help work through this with you. Here is our consult information: Contact Us | Barbell Medicine

Thanks, Michael. I will see a neurologist first to gather more information on this.

Just to clarify: Considering, that this pain is a direct result of the surgery and is not training-induced nor training-related, do you still think that a rehab program can help me?

Maybe. Difficult to state without having a consult with you. What is the hope with the neurologist?

I’d like to share my experiences, as this thread has been inactive since April and I managed to resolve the pain in the meantime.

After seeing a pain specialist (not neurologist), I was prescribed physiotherapy to losen up the belly musculature. The physiotherapist figured out, that the hip flexor was tight and could be part of the pain.
Eventually, stretching and triggering the hip flexor helped to get rid of the pain and keep it away.

Meanwhile I got back to my previous training weights.