Washington wide reciever Terry McLaurin lunged for the goal line in the 3rd quarter of the week 3 game against the Raiders and after being ruled down on the 1-yard line, he left the game and did not return. The team has released that McLaurin suffered a quad strain, and he will miss week 4. The more concerning aspect of the situation is that McLaurin has consulted various doctors this past week, including Dr. William Meyers who is an expert in sport hernias. The Commanders have not confirmed or denied any diagnosis, but they have stated that McLaurin does not need surgery at this point. While all this about a potential sports hernia is speculation, it seems like a good time to dive into what a sports hernia is.
A sports hernia is a common term for a type of injury named athletic pubalgia. Athletic pubalgia is a strain of one or multiple muscles that attach in the front of the pelvis or groin area. Muscles that are commonly strained in sports hernias include the obliques, where they attach to the pelvis in the lower abdomen, and the adductors which run along the inner thighs and attach in the groin area. These lower abdomen or groin strains are very painful, particularly when the inflammation is right where the tendons that attach muscles to bone meet the pelvis. Every time the muscles contract, they pull at those attachment sites, increasing the inflammation and pain. The term athletic pubalgia comes from the fact that these muscle strains are most often caused by aggressive twisting motions with a planted foot, common in football, hockey and soccer and affect the pubic bone area. Unlike traditional hernias, sports hernias don’t necessarily involve tearing a hole in the muscle or tendon causing a bulge of deeper tissues.
Non-surgical management of sports hernias includes rest, treating the inflammation with ice and anti-inflammatories, and physical therapy to improve abdominal and inner thigh strength and mobility. Often 3-6 weeks of rest and therapy is enough for athletes to return to play. If symptoms continue after non-surgical management, or initial evaluation shows more significant muscle or tendon tearing, surgery may be needed. Surgery for these injuries includes a repair of the torn muscle or tendon and recovery can range from 6-12 weeks.
Another possibility for what McLaurin is dealing with is a hip flexor strain. Like sports hernias, hip flexor strains often cause inflammation where the tendons attach the muscles to the front of the pelvis, just above the hip joints. These strains make it nearly impossible to reach top sprinting speed, limiting the knee drive portion of the sprint and causing pain as the hip flexors are stretched when the leg drives backwards.
For fantasy owners, as long as McLaurin’s injury stays non-surgical, he’s still a great option to return this season and bolster your team down the stretch. The biggest risk is that this injury, regardless of what the true diagnosis is, turns into a chronic issue that limits McLaurin’s availability or production for the rest of the year.
