Choosing Sports Hernia Surgery vs. Physical Therapy
After being diagnosed with a sports hernia, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and even confused by the treatment options available to you. Rehabilitation of sports hernia injuries typically includes one or both of two options: sports hernia repair surgery and a targeted physical therapy routine. Both choices have their advantages, but ultimately using a combination of surgery and physical therapy accelerate recovery and produce better results.
Physical therapy often seems like a more gentle, accessible approach to resolve an injury. While this is true, it may not always be the best path to the road to recovery. A sports hernia occurs when a tear is created in the abdominal wall, usually through sharp, twisting movements during exercise. Physical therapy typically focuses on strengthening muscles and connecting fibers. However, all the flexibility in the world will not really repair the sports hernia, it can help you keep from aggravating it.
Simply put, that tear isn’t going to fix itself. It needs a little help to heal. This is where sports hernia surgery comes in. With an internal tear, an operation can seem daunting and risky, but in reality the opposite is true. Choosing an experienced inguinal disruption surgeon and practicing proper recovery techniques can make getting back to your activities faster than you might think.
Sports hernia surgery is usually a relatively quick procedure with a six to eight week full recovery window, while physical therapy can take months, if ever, to create real change. However, the real solution is to combine both methods to speed your rehabilitation. Physical therapy on its own does not fix the root of the problem, and surgery can take years to recover from if not performed properly. In this case, the sum of those two parts means many more benefits to your recovery. Combining both options allows your body both to heal healthily and in a reasonable amount of time. It also can help fill in any gaps in either practice or knowledge that led to the injury in the first place.
A plan of recovery that includes both sports hernia surgery primarily and physical therapy following ensures that you will be able to confidently return to activity sooner and feeling better. Surgery will allow the problem to be repaired by experts, and therapy will encourage muscles to strengthen and help to increase flexibility so that re-injury is less likely. When recovering from a sports hernia, the choice of method is easy – simply combine the best of both worlds.