Sciatica groin pain is a rare, but very disturbing symptomatic expression which can plague suffering patients without relief. Groin pain can be muscular, neurological or linked to the genitals directly, making for a particularly troubling concern. Being that the symptoms of groin pain can be emotionally sensitive, many patients are shy to even seek out treatment and some suffer in silence for years.
This commentary will focus on the physical and possible emotional causes of groin pain, in relationship to other sciatica symptoms.
Sciatica Groin Pain Symptoms
The symptoms of groin pain and sciatica can mimic any other back and leg pain condition, with the addition of pain in the muscles or sexual organs of the groin. For men, this can mean inner thigh pain, lower abdominal pain, anal pain, testicular pain or discomfort in the penis. For women, this can mean inner thigh pain, anal pain, lower abdominal pain, vulva pain or vaginal pain.
These symptoms combined with the usual sciatica complaints of pain, tingling, weakness and numbness in the legs and/or feet can make life a truly harrowing experience indeed.
Treatment for Groin Pain
It is crucial to never be shy or embarrassed about seeking help for any pain, regardless of your fears or reservations. Groin pain is often easily treated, as long as the condition is diagnosed properly. There is always the chance that groin pain can indicate a serious health issue, such as cancer or organ failure. Therefore, seeking a professional diagnostic opinion is always advised.
Once a diagnosis has been achieved, then proper care can be provided. As long as the diagnosis is accurate, then therapy should resolve the pain in the predicted time frame. Patients who can not find lasting sciatica relief from a variety of seemingly ideal treatment options may want to reconsider the validity of their diagnosis and seek out a second opinion. In fact, since there is such a diversity of theories as to the true nature of sciatic nerve complaints, I routinely suggest seeking multiple opinions from a variety of care providers before seeking any treatment whatsoever.
Sciatica Groin Pain Nightmare
Many, many cases of groin pain, either by themselves, or in combination with back pain, have a causative or contributory psychoemotional component. These conditions will not usually respond to medical care and any relief found is likely to be based on the placebo effect and will be short lived. Psychoemotional issues causing groin pain will often involve an unhappy relationship, a history of physical or sexual abuse or a feeling of being unfulfilled in life.
Structural issues in the spine can also cause pain in the groin, although these cases are rare, since the area is served by sacral nerves which are not normally subjected to the types of compression syndromes which might enact pain in other sciatica scenarios.
In essence, the spinal nerve roots which serve the groin are not those typically implicated in most back pain diagnoses, although they can be in certain instances, such as during cauda equina syndrome.
Ischemia is a far more logical source of some sacral nerve root symptoms, as opposed to the epidemic of misdiagnosed pinched nerve conditions I see regularly. However, this is not to say that lumbar disc and bone issues can not influence the lower sacral nerves, for they can, just not as a rule.
Remember also that cervical central spinal stenosis can cause incontinence, sexual dysfunction and even pain in the genitals or anus. These types of syndromes are often mistakenly linked to coincidental lumbar abnormalities and therefore do not respond well to subsequent treatment.
