The endoscope is a tube that can be inserted into an individual patient so that doctors can see inside their bodies and treat any damage or illness discovered.  Endoscopes have been in use for years when it comes to various digestive problems and now are being used in various sports injuries.  Now doctors specializing in sports medicine can use endoscopes for sports injuries to not only diagnosis, but to treat endoskop problems as well.

Traditionally the endoscope was used to see inside the lining of the digestive track to find problems and correct them according to the diagnosis.  Recently the endoscope has been able to be used for various problems that are caused by sports as well.  In fact, the endoscope has been used to officially diagnosis sports related problems that previously were not officially recognized as valid sports injuries.

The sports hernia is one of the primary sports injuries that the endoscope has been used to discover and treat.  A sports hernia is a hernia that occurs as a result of extreme physical training that must be endured so that athletes can maintain in prime condition.  These hernias were previously un-diagnosed because unlike traditional hernias they do not manifest externally.  For most people the first sign of a hernia is the physical lump or bulge which accompanies their pain but with a sports hernia there are no physical or outward signs of an injury.

The main symptom for a sports hernia is groin pain.  Initially the groin pain is very mild and usually easy to ignore sometimes coming and then going away.  The groin pain usually becomes more intense during exercise and other physical activities.  Unfortunately, for many athletes groin pain, or any pain, when exercising is very easy to explain away as being perfectly normal or expected.  The pain could be caused by over exertion, a recent fall or other sports related injury, or lack of exercise.  Many athletes will ignore the groin pain until it becomes literally unbearable. 

Since there was no outward sign of a hernia it was easy for physicians to misdiagnosis the problem.  After all, there are many problems that can lead to groin pain that do not require any exploratory procedures.  Thanks to the use of the endoscope doctors were able to discover that many athletes experiencing severe groin pain were suffering from a weakening of the posterior inguinal wall without any external evidence of the weakening Fernglas. 

The endoscope has since been used to explore other sports injuries in hopes of making it easier for doctors to diagnosis and treat other injuries.  Doctors are now using endoscopes when performing foot and ankle surgeries on athletes.  Using an endoscope is allowing the doctors to get a better idea of the extent of the injury and they hope they will be able to use the endoscope for repairs.  Studies are being done to further the use of the endoscope in sports injuries so that it can be used to help with Achilles heel surgeries in athletes.