Relationship between regions of spontaneous pain in groin pain and MRI findings in long-standing groin pain

Abstract

There are various regions of spontaneous pain in groin pain (GP), and sometimes GP takes a long period to return to play. However, it’s difficult to distinguish the intractable GP from another GP. The purpose of this study was (1) to investigate the rate of the regions of spontaneous pain in GP, and (2) to examine the relationship between the regions of spontaneous pain in GP and distinctive MRI findings in long-standing GP. The study population consisted of 651 GP patients (555 males and 96 females) ranging in age from 16 to 40 years (mean age 20.3±5.2 years old, mean height 171±7cm, mean weight 64.6±9.5kg, mean BMI 21.9±2.3, and mean follow-up time 40 weeks). The subjects were selected from 1091 patients who consulted our clinic for sport-related GP, and MRI was performed based on the physical findings and a detailed patient questionnaire. As a result, the highest rate of a region of spontaneous pain in GP was the inguinal region (47%). However, the cases with the distinctive MRI findings in long-standing GP were significantly related to the regions of the lower abdomen (p<0.001), perineum (p=0.015), and pubic tubercle (p<0.001). Therefore, those three regions could be index markers to distinguish the intractable GP.