Groin and testicular pain
Groin pain can have local causes or be due to referred pain. Referred pain means the cause isn’t at the site of the pain. Groin pain may be caused by musculoskeletal problems or by disease processes, which may also cause painless swelling of lymph nodes in the area.
Before diving in to treatment, a good case history by your therapist is essential for diagnosis and catching a potentially serious condition early. Find out more about this at the bottom of this page.
Many musculo -skeletal causes of groin pain can be helped with osteopathy, and some are listed below.
Hip problems
– and problems with the sacroiliac joint (on either side of the triangular bone at the base of your spine) can cause referred groin pain. Hip pain, as we all know, is also often associated with arthritis in the elderly, but can often be improved to the point that the sufferer can cancel a referral to a specialist.
Sacro iliac problems will often cause pain with walking or rotating the pelvis (your hip bones), as well as pain to either side of the lower back. Problems with this joint are common after pregnancy and are due to instability in the structure. Hands on therapy and vital strengthening exercises help restore strength to the joint.
A shortened & irritated psoas muscle
This often accompanies hip problems, especially when advanced. This muscle connects all your lumbar vertebrae and discs with the top of your femur (or thigh bone) and is responsible for bringing your thigh forwards. It also runs across a fluid filled sac called a bursa, in the area of the groin. With some people a simple stretching of this muscle is enough to get rid of a complaint and also loosen the low back.
Bursitis
‘-itis’ means inflammation, so this is inflammation of the bursa (see previous paragraph). A bursa provides some cushioning between muscle tendons & the bone beneath them, but it too can get irritated by friction or compression. So we reduce the stress on the sac by treating the muscle(s) running over it. A period of rest is often needed to avoid irritating the area, and medication can also help a lot.
Psoas infection and bursitis can also result from gastrointestinal and gynecological disease, so we will need to ask you questions about this aspect of your health.
Ovarian cysts and endometriosis
In such cases a woman will often have other symptoms relating to her periods.
Men - beware!!
Testicular pain can sometimes accompany pain just above the groin. Here, over tight lower abdominal muscles (internal obliques) can irritate the muscle to the testes together with the genito-femoral nerve, which serves this muscle.
However, there are other causes of testicular pain which require urgent attention, including prostate problems, stones, mumps, torsions, cysts & cancer.
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in males aged 20 to 35, and is often painless. These are two very good reasons why all men in this age group should regularly self examine themselves for lumps. Early detection is vital for good results.