No hernia check

I don't remenber my primary school physical exams, but I remember quite well the exam I had every year in secondary school. From 10 to 18 years old, every year , I had a genital exam with my foreskin being retracted and my testicles being palpated, but I never had the hernia check with the invitation to cough.

About ten years later, as I was shortlisted for a job in a bank, which I finally did not get, I had a physical which was a repetition of the one I had during my secondary school years, with a detailed genital exam, but still no hernia check.

Did I miss something ?

I´ve never had genital exam only standard checks like a weight , eyes etc..

Maybe it depends on where you live. Here in the U.S., it's customary to include the hernia check at the same time as a genital exam. I don't personally think I've ever had one without the other.

In my US grade school, there was the hernia exam every year with the boys all lined up in the gym. There wasn't a detailed genital exam, however. They were more interested in your fitness to exercise. You had to have a physical at your doctor's office each year and provide a form to the school.

I've never had a genital exam without a hernia check but have had a couple of physical exams in which the doctor skipped the hernia exam completely. Genital exams themselves are not that common if you mean that the doctor actually examines the penis and testicles. A urologist is the only doctor who handled my penis during an exam and that was a surprise. My current doctor always checks for hernias and also checks my testicles but doesn't touch my penis. I'm not sure why more doctors don't examine more, especially in younger guys who would have a sex related disease that would be obvious from checking the underside of the penis.

The hernia and gential exams were always done together while lay on the exam table. I remember him feeling around my belly and groin area while his finger was pushing upward next my testicles. The first hernia exam were I had to "drop my pants" was when I was 15 years old. A group sports physical in the high schools nurse's office. The gential and hernia part of the exam was perform behind a privacy screen with the doctor. He did say much except for like two phrases: "drop your pants to the floor" and " turn and cough twice now the other side." He check my penis, foreskin, uretha opening, felt the testicles and then the hernia exam.

Two parts of the physical I really did not care for we're:

1) his hands were always freezing cold- not comfortable but a shock to your warm penis and balls.

2) many times e doctor said " next" before he was done with the previous guy. I found it weird, viewing the end of your friends hernia exam. Plus, dropping your pants while the other guy is trying to get dressed.

Yes, you have missed something in not having hernia exams. The hernia exam doubles the time you spend standing in front of the doctor with your pants down. The hernia exam also requires the doctor to give you instructions. I find it extremely embarrassing to have the doctor say to me "turn your head and cough." And he has to give that command at least once for each side, and, I would say more often than not, he repeats the command again for each side. It is also a bit of an awkward maneuver for the doctor to push his finger up through your scrotum into the inguinal canal for the exam. If done correctly, this is fairly uncomfortable. I have had a few hernia exams that gave me discomfort which I could feel for a couple of days afterward. I hope you will get the opportunity to experience a hernia exam at some point. It is definitely great for some memories.

I've only had one doctor who inserted his finger into my scrotum for the hernia exam and it did hurt. Left my balls sore for the rest of the day. Not sure why doctors don't do all hernia exams that way although I might be happy that they don't. It put me on my tiptoes at the time.

I have had a few doctors over the years and I can only remember one who ever checked hernia or genitals...at all.

I have also had very similar experiences to you. The doctor would examine my testicles while I was lying on an examination table but would never do a hernia examination. I never heard of anyone outside of medical resources having one either.

I have had hernia exams at my pediatrician office between 4 and 12 years old. Always laying on the examination table. Naked by a nurse and Doctor. Embarrassing.

It does seem odd that you never received a hernia check. I had many exams from the ages of 13 to 22 (mostly for sports) and they always included a hernia check. Whether it was a group exam at school, the family doctor or a clinic. It was going to happen. There was no escaping it. It was like a right of passage you had to go through if you wanted to play sports.

I had my foreskin and testicles examined a few different times as kid but never a hernia check. I always assumed that was mostly an American thing.

I have also had very similar experiences to you. The doctor would examine my testicles while I was lying on an examination table but would never do a hernia examination. I never heard of anyone outside of medical resources having one either.

My exams as a teenager were also done like this - lying down, but the doctor would tell me to cough as they stuck their hands in and around my scrotum.

Yes, something was really amiss. I really can not remember a time during elementary school along with Jr. High and HS where I was not checked for a hernia. I even remember for summer jobs in undergrad I was given a hernia check. Maybe it's the state or generation? I grew up in IL in the 70's and 80's.

Hernia checks were a part of my yearly exam all through youth and adulthood up until sometime in the early 2010s. Standing or laying down was up to the practitioner. I don’t know why they stopped doing it during regular visits. Hernias remain extremely common and are easily diagnosed.

I even developed a hernia and had to make a special visit for diagnosis. Following repair, they still don’t check me even though the surgeon advised I was at a higher risk for developing one on my other side.

Older guy here! I cannot remember when I have not had a hernia/testicle exam during my yearly physical. Since the age of 35, my yearly physical exams have also included a DRE! Once I remove my underwear, it seems as if the genital and rectal exams go hand in hand!

I’ve always had a hernia and testicle exam at every physical exam that I can remember. Once I was 35 or 36, rectal exams were added.

US Guy here and I feel like the odd one out now to say that I never had a hernia exam with my usual doctor. The only time I had one was with a substitute doctor after having me lay down, removed my pants and examined my genitals (testicles, them retracting foreskin and examining thoroughly), then he had me stand naked in front of him as he examined them all again standing, but then also proceeded to stick his finger up there and have me cough. He also did this ungloved which I was quite turned on about..

When I was younger I would have a hernia check at every annual physical exam, and now I feel as if it's not done at all anymore.

The only time, at least that I recall, when I had a hernia check with a finger up near the scrotum, was after I actually had a visible hernia in adult life and the doctor checked the other side as well just in case.

Hernia checks were always part of physicals - especially sports physicals - up through my 30’s to 40’s. Haven’t had one now for 15-20 years. I think I’d be aware of it if I had a problem.

I had hernia checks from my pediatrician and also all of my adult PCP doctors into my late 20's. I started seeing a female DO as my PCP in my late 20's and, although she did thorough genital and rectal exams at every physical for over 25 years, she never once checked me for a hernia. When I had an MRI last year to evaluate my prostate an incidental finding was that I have a small right inguinal hernia, which I have also had palpated by both my urologist and a surgeon, most recently just this week! So, ironically...I had to actually DEVELOP a hernia in order to get checked for it... 😉

Had various genital checks over the years but never with a hernia check. I’m 60, my first hernia check was Tuesday, whilst lying down on an examination table, didn’t expect it.

The doctor checked my abdomen with varying depths of presses then without warning slipped his hand down inside my trousers and boxers. He pressed my scrotum and did the cough twice test as I lay flat.

This was my first hernia check and I didn’t have a genital check!

I have had an umbilical hernia operated on so maybe seeing that scar and knowing why the scar was there was his reasoning.

I don't recall any hernia check until I actually had an inguinal hernia, as an adult. These checks seem like an American preoccupation.

Hernia checks used to be routinely included in physical exams for men but have long since become a casualty of “wellness checks” where very little is touched unless specific problems are presented. It’s been 20 years at least since I’ve been asked to “turn your head and cough”.

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In the state of Washington in the USA, I don't remember having any physical exams for school, at least not conducted at school.

I do remember going to the pediatrician for physical exams and maybe those exams were for school, and my mom just didn't mention it or I wasn't paying attention when she did--probably the latter case.

At those exams, I did have to turn my head and cough for the hernia check. When I was 12 to 16 years old, before going to Boy Scout camp every summer, I had to get a physical exam at the pediatrician and at those exams I had to turn my head and cough for the hernia check.

What is really bad is that I had an inguinal hernia all through those years and even though I turned my head and cough for the hernia check at least seven times in as many years, the pediatrician completely missed the hernia every time. Maybe he just assumed a little boy wouldn't have a hernia and so he just went through the motions without really checking.

How do I know I had a hernia when the pediatrician didn't know? From the age of seven, I had a strange little thing in my groin area that fascinated me. When I would stand up, a little "ball" would roll out out of a little hole under the skin that was just up and to the right of the base of my penis. The ball was just under the surface of the skin and I could push the ball up and down and around and I thought it was pretty cool. Then, when I would lie down, the little ball would slip back into the hole. Stand up and it would sneak out so I could roll it around. Lie down and it would slip back in its hole.

When I was 21 years old and working as a painting contractor, I lifted lots of five-gallon buckets of paint, often two at a time, one in each hand. I lifted 20-foot extension ladders and other heavy equipment. One day, I was moving a ladder that was extended up and the ladder started tipping over. I strained to keep it from falling all the way to the ground because hanging near the top of the ladder was a one-gallon paint bucket half filled with bright yellow paint and I didn't want the bright yellow paint to splatter all over the black pavement. I managed to save the ladder, the bright yellow paint, and the black pavement, but the exertion did a number on my body as I strained many muscles.

I especially noticed a pain in my groin and went to the doctor to see if it was serious. At age 21, I did not go to my old pediatrician. The family doctor examined me and had me turn my head and cough for the hernia check, and he immediately said, "You have an inguinal hernia."

He pointed out the little ball that came out of the hole when I was standing and went away when I was lying down. He said if it comes out of the hole for too long, it can strangulate and that causes serious problems, similar to a ruptured appendix. I said that I had first noticed my little friend down when I was seven years old and had enjoyed playing with him for about 14 years. He said it should have been diagnosed and surgically repaired long ago, but at least it hadn't strangulated and he would fix it so it wouldn't.

And he did. But for many years, I kinda missed being able to play with my little friend of 14 years, but at least I still could play with his bigger, longer cousin who lived in the same inguinal area. Actually, his bigger, longer cousin was a whole lot more fun to play with and my wife enjoyed playing with him too. In fact, we have enjoyed playing with him now for nearly half a century.

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I had them from age 11 or 12 to maybe 24. Do not recall having any after that - perhaps when I was at the urologist for another issue but I do not recall it specifically. My GP admitted one time that after age 35 he was not required to check the testicles (meaning it was not on his protocol sheet for older men's physicals). He said that the rate of testicular cancer drops after age 35, so they do not bother. Perhaps hernia is the same?

I don't remember at what age I started having hernia checks but clearly when I was a teenager it happend at every physical exam. A few years ago the doctor stopped doing them. Now since I am on medicare the annual physical exam is a thing of the past. It is now a wellness check and he will listen to my heart and lungs and that is about it. Most of the time is the doctor asking me about my medical conditions, high blood pressure, need for a colonoscopy, high psa, etc.

..I had to actually DEVELOP a hernia in order to get checked for it... 😉

So if you want to be checked for hernia, convince your doctor somehow that you've had one / have a history, in order to get checked. I got checked at every physical I went to right up until I was like 45, and then never got checked again. Meanwhile I've had friends and known guys who would develop a hernia without realizing it. And not being checked for it.