[Sportman's hernia]

Sportman's hernia is a disease with insidious groin pain that primarily affects young males undertaking sports activities with frequent kicking and twisting. Pathophysiological theories include: 1) a weakening of the posterior inguinal potential or 2) injuries of the fascias of the muscles and insertions of tendons at the pubic bone. The diagnosis requires exclusion of differential diagnoses. Patients rarely respond to conservative treatment, whereas uncontrolled studies suggest improvement after surgery. However, there is a lack of randomized trials with a long follow-up to define the role of surgery in the treatment.