Sports Hernia (Ab, Oblique + Adductor Injury) Rehab Program

Rehab Your Sports Hernia at Home — Without the $20,000 Surgery Decision

A 12-week video rehab program for sports hernia, ab, oblique, and adductor injuries: the six-week "Virtual Surgery" protocol — post-surgical rehab without the surgery — then an 8-week advanced strength rebuild.

Who this is for

• Your groin or lower ab aches and flares when you sprint, cut, swing, or sneeze — even putting on socks can hurt.
• You've been diagnosed with (or suspect) a sports hernia, oblique strain, or adductor injury.
• Rest helped — right up until you tried to be an athlete again.
• Physical therapy got you partway there, then you hit a plateau.
• You've been quoted sports hernia surgery and would do almost anything to avoid it.
• You want a plan back to weights, jogging, and sprinting — not just "take it easy."

The problem

A sports hernia is scary because it hits the body's primary stabilization center: your torso. Most people default to braces, massage, medication, and excessive rest — not wrong, but only about a quarter of the full rehab picture. It's why so many athletes rest for months, feel better, test it, and end up right back where they started.

Here's the theory my programming is built on: the strained tissue — transversalis fascia, oblique, or adductor — was working too hard because it had a poor supporting cast. Real torso stability comes from internal pressure created by breathing, plus co-contraction of the entire abdominal wall, and it fails if your hips aren't mobile. So while most protocols chase the injured anterior chain, this program offloads it so it can heal, aggressively strengthens the lateral and posterior chains, and corrects the movement patterns that got you here.

That's also why the program begins with a "virtual surgery" — an idea borrowed from lower back researcher Stuart McGill: follow the structured rehab protocol people are compelled to follow after surgery, without actually having the $20,000 surgery. Most sports hernias are essentially grade 1 tears; they need time to "put some glue" on the tissue, then a disciplined rebuild of foundational motor patterns, so we don't end up with a sports car sitting on a rotting frame.

What's inside

A 12-week online course in two phases, with real exercise videos throughout — I counted 38 distinct exercise and follow-along videos across the curriculum.

Phase 1 — the 6-Week Virtual Surgery. Written lessons frame the plan (Framing the Logic to Rehab, The Sports Hernia Virtual Surgery), then weekly follow-along videos guide you through exercises designed to work around the injured area while jumpstarting strength everywhere else.

Phase 2 — the Advanced 8-Week Program (Advanced Program Weeks 1–8), run the way we manage these cases at Performance Place. Each week includes an audio classroom topic (including one on sprinting), a daily cool down (Frog Breathing, skin rolling, later daily walks or hikes), a daily rehab workout (Diagonal Sit, Lateral Wedge, Regressed Copenhagen, Hard Style Plank and more), and a strength workout progressing from split squats and kettlebell deadlifts into goblet squats, farmers carries, and rotational squats with band or cable.

The course closes with Advanced Progressions — how loaded squats, deadlifts, pushes, pulls, carries, and lunges come next once the vulnerability window has passed.

How it works

1. Buy the program and get access to the online course right away.
2. Start Phase 1: follow the weekly Virtual Surgery videos — about 10–15 minutes per day, ideally within an hour of waking, with zero pain at the injury site.
3. Progress week by week, building in order the way I progress patients in clinic.
4. Move into the Advanced Program: daily cool downs, rehab circuits, and 3-day-per-week strength work.
5. Finish with Advanced Progressions and a clear path back to dynamic weight training, jogging, and sprinting.

Why Performance Place

This program is by Dr. Sebastian Gonzales, DC, of Performance Place Sports Care in Huntington Beach, CA. He's personally rehabbed an oblique strain from baseball and a 30-day adductor strain, and the two-phase structure here is the same approach used with sports hernia cases managed at Performance Place — built around root causes, not symptoms.

FAQ

Is this right for my injury?

It's built for athletes recovering from sports hernia, abdominal (oblique), or adductor injuries — same rehab logic, with your strained tissue swapped in. Injuries under 5–10 days old rest first so the tissue can "glue."

How is this different from YouTube?

Free content chases the sore spot. This program offloads the injured anterior chain and strengthens the lateral and posterior chains in a specific weekly order — a structure you can't reassemble from scattered videos.

What if I've been told I need surgery?

Phase 1 is literally the "virtual surgery": the structured post-surgical rehab protocol, without the surgery — the disciplined alternative I give patients who say they'd do anything to avoid the $20,000 operation. (The course is informational and doesn't diagnose or treat.)

How much time does it take?

About 10–15 minutes of the weekly circuit per day, plus rehab and strength sessions 3 days a week as the program builds. Nothing should hurt: zero pain or discomfort at the injury site during exercises.

Do I need a gym?

No. Early phases are bodyweight and breathing-focused; advanced weeks use a kettlebell and a band or cable.