• 97% of athletes reported significant improvement with their pain
• 74% of athletes were match-fit at four weeks after surgery
• 73% reported complete absence of their symptoms
• 88% returned to full pain-free physical activity and sport

More than 1000 athletes have already undergone the Lloyd Release Procedure (LRP). The original description of the technique has been published (Lloyd DM et al. Laparosopic inguinal ligament tenotomy: a new approach for the management of groin pain. Surg Endosc Laparosc Percut Tech 2008). In a second paper recently published, a series of 73 elite sportsmen were studied three to six months after undergoing the LRP, with 97% of these athletes returning to training or playing their sport at four weeks and 50% training and playing within two. 74%were able to consider themselves ‘match-fit’ by four weeks, and only one player had not returned to his sport at follow-up.

The median change in pain scores between pre- and post-operation was 7 (0-10), which is highly significant. 88% of patients had returned to full fitness following the operation with a highly significant improvement in frequency of pain, severity of pain, and functional limitation following surgery (p<0.001, p=0.005, p<0.001 respectively). Overall, 97% of patients reported that the operation had improved their symptoms and would recommend the procedure to a colleague/team-mate.

The graph below shows the severity score pre- and post-operatively in all patients (p = 0.005), football players (p<0.001), rugby players (p<0.001) and professional sportsmen (p<0.001). Taken from the British Journal of Sports Medicine (see below).