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Adductor Surgery
Adductor injuries are common in sports and in general trauma. Most injuries affect the muscle or part of the tendon and are well managed without surgery by our physiotherapy and sports physician colleagues.
About Adductor Surgery
A small proportion of adductor injuries involve disruption of the connection between the adductor tendons and the bone of the pelvis. These can be minor undisplaced tears at that insertion of the tendon into bone or can be extensive tears going all the way around and to include the abdominal muscles. They can be severely retracted particularly with inadvertent stretch injuries such as falling into a splits position. These injuries risk destabilising the pelvis. They require careful MRI scan imaging and they typically require repair.
In these cases MRI scan defines the exact pathology to be treated and repair is undertaken surgically as a day case reattaching the so called adductor fibrocartilage and any associated tendons including the pectineus or inguinal ligament or rectus abdominus into the pelvic bones to restore continuity and stability.
Such surgery requires the use of crutches for at least three weeks and rehabilitation for a minimum of three months but we have carefully documented and tracked our management of these injuries and published some of the outcomes which are excellent in the athletic population.
Adductor disruptions of the bone can, of course, heal without surgery but there are significant risks of calcification and ongoing groin and abdominal symptoms so a decision has to be reached based on clinical assessment, the imaging and the functional needs of the patient.