• SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    I had mystery testicular pain for years. It was crippling and no doctor could figure it out. I saw literally dozens of doctors, had several MRIs and CT scans, and nothing turned up. Then I went to university and learned all about human anatomy and thus I learned most urologists are surprisingly ignorant of the topic. Certainly every one I saw was.

    It was two issues: I have a connective tissue disorder which led me to strain my cremaster muscle through daily activities, and I had compression of the genitofemoral nerve due to tight iliopsoas from working a desk job. I’ve included my protocol if you want to give it a try. It cured me and has helped a few gents I’ve corresponded with online. I’ve been mostly pain free for over a decade now, with it only recurring when I get lazy and don’t adhere to my system.

    Cremaster strain: wear an athletic supporter with a plastic cup whenever possible. It needs to be tight enough to immobilize your testicles. After the pain starts to abate, stop wearing it in bed for a week or two, then for gentle walks, increasing in duration as tolerated. Eventually cease wearing it altogether, but still keep it for recurrences.

    Bonus balls exercise: the cremaster muscle is originally a part of the obliques. For some (but not all) men, bicycle crunches with a hard “crunch” of the obliques at the end will result in contraction of the same side’s cremaster muscle. You’ll know if this is the case as your testicle will rise, as if by magic. Obviously do this exercise after the pain has started to resolve. This is also one way to see if the muscle is your issue: it may hurt when or after it contracts, but this isn’t always true

    Genitofemoral nerve compression: firmly (but not too firmly) stretch your iliopsoas twice a day for 30s each. No more, no less. The “blaster pose” in this video is what I do.

    Additionally, strengthen the same muscles doing the exercises found in this video.

    That’s it! I hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions, I’m an open book.

    • Sturgist@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      This…fuck…my DUDE!

      So up until Tuesday I was driving and hour into work and, due to traffic, my way back would be minimum an hour and a half, but sometimes up to 3 hours if everything is fucked. I had considered that I might have a similar issue, mostly from not having cruise control and how I position my leg/foot while driving on the highway. Haven’t had a chance to look at the videos yet, but I suspect that they’re either the same, or very similar, exercises that my physio has had me doing.

      I’ve not been at it long, so I’ll give it time to cook. And, as of Tuesday I’ve switched depot, so my commute is now a 15min bus ride, with a ~5mins walk on either side of it, so hopefully that’ll help too…

      • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        24 hours ago

        Good luck! I always wondered if driving was a factor as it was only on my right side and driving requires a surprising amount of iliopsoas activity.

        • Sturgist@lemmy.ca
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          23 hours ago

          So what my physio had said is that that nerve can get trapped/damaged by having your heel pointed in and toes out. And would be advisable to keep your heel as close to the outside of the foot well and your toes pointed in to operate the pedals. 🤷 I’m just a mason who never finished highschool. Idfk if that’s legit or not. She’s like…26, but went to school for physiotherapy, so I guess she probably knows better than me.