Groin pain in athletes
BMJ 2020; 368 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m559 (Published 04 March 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;368:m559All rapid responses
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Dear Editor
This educational piece offers a surgically biased opinion on a condition which typically is managed conservatively.
Apart from a small information box in grey, this article reads as if Inguinal Disruption is the only cause of Groin Pain in Athletes, which is not a true reflection of the diverse spectrum of diagnoses.
Various expert groups (1,2,3) have published on the epidemiology of groin pain in sport indicating that Pubic Aponeurosis injury (1), Adductor-related (2), and Hip-related (3) pathologies are the most common diagnoses made in specialist sports injury clinics. True hernia and Inguinal disruption are not the most common cause of groin pain in athletes.
References
1) Athletics groin pain (part 1): a prospective anatomical diagnosis of 382 patients - clinical findings, MRI findings and patient-reported outcome measures at baseline.
EC Falvey, E King, S Kinsella, A Frankly-Miller BJSM 2016;50:423-430
2) Multidisciplinary assessment of 100 athletes with groin pain using the DOha agreement: High prevalence of adductor-related groin pain in conjunction with multiple causes. R Taylor, Z Vuckovic, A Moslet et al. Clin J Sport Med 2017;0:1-6
3) The diagnosis of longstanding groin pain: a prospective clinical cohort study. CJ Bradshaw, M Bundy, E Falvey. BJSM 2008;42:851-854
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Groin pain in athletes
Dear Editor
I agree with Dr Leon Creaney that this article is inaccurately titled. The title should be 'Inguinal disruption as a cause of groin pain in athletes' . This condition is addressed almost exclusively and other common causes are just given as a differential diagnosis. The commonest diagnosis I see is acute adductor injury in footballers but recently I have also seen a varicocoele and a stress fracture of the pubic ramus present initially as 'groin pain'
Competing interests: No competing interests