Aim of our study was to evaluate the importance of iliopsoas hypertrophy to aggravate preexisting pubalgia in soccer players. Groin pain is a frequent pathological condition, affecting many athletes who practice different sports activities. Even if it is part of the daily practice in sports medicine, this pathology still represents a challenge for physicians and physiotherapists, mainly because of the complicated anatomy of this region. Many pathologies need to be considered in the differential diagnosis of groin pain because several entities may cause similar clinical...

10 Italian first division soccer players with a known diagnosis of pubalgia associated with a suspected sports hernia presented at our Institution between October 2011 and May 2012 with sharp pain in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen; they previously received a diagnosis of sports hernia. The pain was localized to the inguinal region, just medial to the external inguinal ring, near the insertion of the tendon and insertional region of the right adductor longus. There was no radiation of the pain into the...

Symmetric hypertrophy of the ileo-psoas muscles (Fig. 1) due to the physical training was observed in all cases. In the right pubic bone we observed a mild intraspongious signal hyperintensity in T2 weighted fat-sat sequences, indicating edema as in the condition of pubic osteitis (Fig. 2); in the insertional portion of the right adductor muscles we also noticed a modified intensity suggesting tendinitis, consistent with a diagnosis of pubalgia. We detected also a small accumulation of fluid associated with inflammation of the perivisceral ileo-cecal fat...

Terms including osteitis pubis, pubalgia, groin strain, abdominal muscle tear, and, more recently, sports hernia have become common diagnoses on team injury reports [4]. Many of these terms are poorly defined in the medical literature, adding confusion and leading to wide variability in diagnosis and in treatment modalities. Athletes with pubalgia usually present with pain in the inguinal region, which may radiate to the thigh adductor muscle origins or to the scrotum and testicles. At physical examination, point tenderness is often localized to the external...

1. Omar IM, Zoga AC, Kavanagh EC, Koulouris G, Bergin D, Gopez AG, Morrison WB, Meyers WC. Athletic pubalgia and "sports hernia": optimal MR imaging technique and findings. 2. Taylor DC, Meyers WC, Moylan JA, et al. Abdominal musculature abnormalities as a cause of groin pain in athletes. Inguinal hernias and pubalgia. Am J Sports Med 1991;19(3):239–42. 3. Sanchis-Moysi J, Idoate F, Izquierdo M, Calbet JA, Dorado C. Iliopsoas and gluteal muscles are asymmetric in tennis players but not in soccer players PLoS One. 2011;6(7):e22858....

Dr. Riccardo Del Vescovo MD Department of Radiology University Campus Bio-Medico School of Medicine Via Alvaro del Portillo 200, 00128 Rome Cell.:+39-338-1111915 e-mail: [email protected]