Does exercise therapy treat sports hernia?

Sports hernia, also called athletic pubalgia, describes pain around the lower abdomen, groin, or pubic region linked with forceful sport movements. It is not always a visible groin bulge. Rehabilitation commonly starts by reducing painful sprinting, kicking, cutting, and twisting, then develops controlled strength in the abdominal wall, pelvic floor, hips, and inner thighs. The aim is better load sharing and movement control, not simply stronger muscles in isolation. A clinician should also check for hip, tendon, or true inguinal causes of groin pain.

Ask for an examination before restarting intense training. Use a staged plan: settle symptoms, restore everyday movement, build strength, and then rehearse running or sport drills. Increase one training demand at a time and report pain that becomes sharper, spreads, or remains worse into the next day. Do not use exercises to push through sudden severe groin pain. A guided [Exercise Therapy](/treatments/physiotherapy-and-rehabilitation/exercise-therapy/) programme can be adjusted to your sport and examination.

Seek urgent assessment for severe groin or abdominal pain with vomiting, fever, a tender bulge, or inability to pass stool or urine. Arrange review for testicular pain, numbness, marked weakness, pain after trauma, or symptoms that do not settle with reduced activity. These signs may point to a different problem requiring timely evaluation.

Ask what structure is most likely causing your pain, which training actions to avoid, and what return-to-sport tests you should pass. Ask when ultrasound, other imaging, or surgical review would change the plan.