SURGERY: Surgery for sports hernias are very successful when performed by a skilled surgeon who understands the actual defect needing repair. Many physicians in the United State feel that sports hernias do not truly exist, and will defer treatment for weeks to months since there is not an actual hernia for them to treat. They will only offer surgery as a last resort.
The reality is that the sports hernia is an actual entity, and many athletes have been suffering from this problem for extended periods of time. The first step is to identify the actual area of injury since the term sports hernia is often used by patients, medical personnel, and physicians as any pain in the groin.
There are several different techniques described for the treatment of a sports hernia, including open no-mesh techniques, open mesh techniques, laparoscopic/robotic mesh techniques. While there are several published studies validating each method, the preferred method is an open no-mesh, suture only technique.
General surgeons who utilize mesh, are essentially leaving the area of weakness on the inguinal floor and merely reinforcing it with the mesh as a patch Mesh is not always bad, but for our thinner athletes, it can sometimes be felt through the skin as an area of firmness, or create a pulling sensation as the mesh adheres to the surround structures.
Most high performance athletes treated around the world have the open no-mesh technique performed. Now, there are several different no-mesh techniques employed, by some of the common ones are the Muschaweck, Meyers, and the Desarda. Each of these techniques have a slightly different approach to suturing the layers back together or moving the tissues. The Muschaweck technique provides the most anatomic reconstruction (i.e. placing your body back how it was designed) with the least amount of tension. This means that you can get back to sports quicker because there is less discomfort.