Suggest Treatment For Severe Pain And Soreness In The Pelvic And Groin Area

Question: Since 7-10-16, I've been having problems with pain/soreness from the right side of my pelvis and groin, but not in the right leg. Mostly mild, sometimes moderate. Dull aching. Sometimes the area has been tender to the touch. When it flares up, the problem tends to limit my stride length.

The incident on 7/10 seemed relatively insignificant, but the area has bothered me on and off ever since. That evening I did some upper body weight lifting with light weights (15 lb. dumbbells or less). The problem started when I was doing some triceps exercises. I sometimes do those with one knee on a chair and the other foot on the floor. I bend at the waist and swing the weight behind me. While doing so with the right leg supporting much of my weight, I felt two spasms in the right pelvis/groin area. The 2nd was a bit painful, so I ended my exercise session.

In hindsight, I should've rested more that week, but I didn't think what I did was serious enough to worry about. On 7/12, I walked for about 30 minutes, then stretched. On 7/13, I walked for about 40 minutes, then stretched. Felt some discomfort during and afterwards. Rested on 7/14, then walked dogs for 30 minutes on 7/15. That wasn't a good idea. The dogs pulling on their leashes caused me to speed up, which aggravated the problem.

After that I rested as much as I could and when I did exercise, I mostly did gentle bicycling motions in the pool and light stretching.

By the time I saw my doc for a physical on 8/4, I thought I was on the mend. We talked about it, and he palpated the area. There was no tenderness at the time. I mentioned that I've had a very tight muscle in the affected area for some time (it significantly limits how much I can push up when doing bridges). He said be sure to keep up with your stretching. We left it at that.

By 8/10 or so I thought I was completely healed. But then swimming in the ocean on 8/14 caused some discomfort. I then took it fairly easy that week until 8/20, when I did a 40 minute walk, stretching, bridges and some leg raises and scissor movements while lying on my side. I was sore afterwards, but not too bad.

On 8/21, I did a 20 minute walk, then stretches and core stuff. The latter included bridges and 1 set of the dead bug exercise (strengthens core & hip flexors). Then went shopping.

By the end of shopping, I was starting to feel really sore. Mild to moderate pain that evening. Took one ibuprofen. The pain took hours to settle down enough for me to sleep.

Mon.-Thurs of this past week I didn't officially exercise, but I did some light yard work Thurs. and some errands Mon. & Tues. Friday I did some aqua therapy and stretching. That was OK, no pain afterwards.

There's never been any swelling, discoloration or warmth to the touch. From what I can see, there's no external evidence of a hernia.

Moving my genitals while washing in the shower can cause pain in the pelvic area just to the right of and above the genitals.

I'm currently visiting a relative in Idaho. My medical insurance only covers care in areas with Kaiser Permanente facilities. KP doesn't have any facilities in Idaho. I should be back home in California by roughly mid-September.

Any thoughts about what exercises I should do? What do you think is causing these problems? Muscle strain?

Dr. Raju:

Thanks for your reply.

I have a question about knight's position stretching. Please see the uploaded report.

How long should I refrain from core and lower limb workouts? How will I know when it is OK to resume those workouts?

Do you think it is OK for me to shop for groceries and cook meals?

Thanks, XXXXXXX XXXXXXX