WestCoastCycle

Hi everyone, happy New Years by the way and I hope everyone had a great riding season in these difficult times. So here goes my problem that has suddenly developed.

I started getting back on the bike and doing some- at least for me- significant training after nearly a 6 month layoff. I’ve been cycling for about 5 years on and off with a bike fit done 4 years ago. I was doing about 200km a week, all mostly indoor trainer rides as the weather here hasn’t been too friendly.

so after about 3-4 months in, I developed an interesting soreness/pain in my LEFT inner upper thigh/groin area. It’s the area literally right between your testicle and upper thigh, right at the inner groin, and a bit in front of the thigh as well just below and adjacent to the pubic region. As high up as your groin goes, just right beside the testicle region. The pain occurs at around 30KMs, after an hour in the saddle. I know it’s not the saddle as I’m actually riding on an ISM saddle, so nothing is actually contacting or squishing my groin, all my weight is right on my sit bones and I’ve been using this saddle for 5 years with no issues.

I know this isn’t the most practical place to get medical advice, but I just wanted to know if any other cyclists have suffered from this and what steps were taken. Not sure if I need to check out the physio right away or to get another bike fit done.

thanks for any tips or suggestions guys.

blakcloud

The first time I had similar pain, I went and had a hernia operation at the Shouldice Center here in Toronto. World renown, look it up, lots of Americans come.

One year after the operation, pain in the opposite side, went back to Shouldice they said it was overuse and to stay off the bike for a while. A bit of a rest and it went away.

Now my pain is not your pain and they could/can be totally different. I leery that a saddle would cause that pain. Good luck and solving this.

WestCoastCycle

It’s the ISM PN 3.1. I did have an issue with the split nose rubbing my groin/thigh early on when I first tried them 4 years ago, but I solved that by zip tying the noses together to decrease its width, so literally nothing is even close to contacting that region of my groin. I also had a fit done that put me in a more forward riding position for that saddle which allowed my hips to rotate forward to relieve some pressure from the nether regions and groin. The only parts contacting the saddle are actually my sit-bones and nothing else.

Great point about the change in weight and power. I did gain some pounds and lose some power and I did indeed feel substantially weaker at the start, but I don’t think I over trained myself. I started out quite easy and it’s strange that this pain has only come after 3 months later.

WestCoastCycle

Fortunately I don’t have any pain if at all in that region when off the bike. I would try to avoid an operation as that would probably be my last resort, but the pain right now is bearable when off the bike. I do however feel it when I balance my weight on my right leg and left that left leg up and down. I can feel the stretch/pain right in the left inner thigh and groin. Interestingly, the pain only occurs when I’m doing circular motions like on a bike or when lifting that leg up and down, like doing stairs. Perhaps a strain of an adductor muscle in the groin or inner thigh? The pain on the bike I’d say is a 3.5/10 but it’s tight and nagging enough to force me to stop as I feel it after every single pedal stroke. It happens at the downward pedal interestingly enough, from the 12-6 pedal.

masi61

WestCoastCycle you don’t mention your age but I am now curious if your inner thigh pain could be referred pain from a degraded hip joint.

I am 58 and suffered similar pain 2 years ago so I made an appointment with a sports medicine orthopedist. They did hip X-rays and it turned out that the doctor identified thinning and small tears in the labrum cartilage lining in places of my hip socket. At the time It did not seem logical that this groin pain would originate in a degenerating hip but they maintained that the anterior hip labrum thinning would be consistent with the pain I was reporting. I did have Inguinal hernia repair several years prior (each side done but in separate surgeries) but I was fully healed and for the most part the surgeries had been successful. Believe it or not, I was on a fitness kick after my divorce and was participating in a fitness class doing something similar to “Zumba” and certain repetitive hip motions would produce a tearing sensation in my groin.

But back to the deteriorated hip, overtraining and cycling: when I backed off on certain types of fitness classes and focused mostly on cycling and spin classes, the inner hip/groin pain died down. I was told by the orthopedist to “live my life” with no restrictions. They said that one day I might need a hip replacement but that if it was tolerable then I could pursue my cycling. I am aware of this issue to this day and yes, I do have periodic flare-ups. But I now just bring an awareness of my aging hips along with me as part of my cycling resume’.

I’m not saying you have a bad hip, but it is a possibility that you are experiencing some degradation of the hip joint. It happens. The only way to know for sure is to make an appointment with a sports medicine physician or orthopedic surgeon and get a physical exam and an x-ray or even an MRI of the joint.

I hope this helps, from Bill.

hsuBM

Bike saddle, doesn’t matter which make or model, needs to be lightly laden to be comfortable.

Intended for pedaling at a significant effort so that it's unloaded a bit and in a very hunched down position for aero and also to unload it further.

It’s a bike, put your weight where it belongs: the pedals.

canklecat

Might be referred pain, caused by nerves aggravated by pressure from a cut out or split nose saddle.

Cut out saddles didn't completely solve problems for me. The problems just shifted. I have three cut out saddles (I think?) -- a popular Cobb tri saddle, very similar one by Selle Italia, and another Bontrager. Those all begin to cause problems after 90 minutes to 2 hours continuous saddle time, so I wind up standing more often to relieve the pressure and get some circulation.

Moving all the weight to my ischium put too much pressure there, with discomfort that radiated elsewhere in the groin and thigh. BTW, technically, when we're in a typical road bike position, the "sit bone" is the ischial ramus, not the ischial tuberosity. The latter would be under pressure on a more upright bike and typical wider, more padded saddle. But the effect is the same -- lots of weight on the soft tissue and nerves compressed between the saddle and ischium.

When I returned to solid top saddles, the pressure was spread out more including to the perineum.

For now my most comfortable saddle is an old, nearly worn out Selle San Marco racing saddle from about 20 years ago. While it's a solid top with little padding the shell is quite flexible and comfy. My next most comfortable saddle is a solid top Selle Italia, their economy line SLS Kit Carbonio (plastic shell, steel rails), same design as their pricier saddles with carbon fiber shell and either carbon fiber or lightweight metal rails.