[Neuropathy of the obturator nerve as a source of pain in soccer players].

Chronic inguinal and lower abdominal pain in high-performance athletes is common and often disabling problem. Diagnose and treatment is often difficult due to many anatomic structures in the inguinal and groin region that have the potential to cause pain. We report 52 cases of a chronic groin pain in soccer players due to fascial entrapment of the obturator nerve. All patients presented clinical symptoms and signs of post exercise groin, lower abdominal or medial tight pain and adductor muscles weakness and paresthesia in cutaneous distribution of medial thigh. Except clinical signs in the diagnosis of obturator neuropathy we used diagnostic local anaesthetic block and electromyography. In 52 patients the cause of chronic groin pain was obturator neuropathy and they were treated operatively. Surgical neurolysis provided the definitive cure of pain in 41 players.