I recently got hit in the left testicle from a popup softball. I iced it for a couple days and now its just a bit tender but I notice the left testicle is hanging alot lower and when I tighten my lower abdomen on the right testicle rises but the left just stays there. Is that normal?
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Testis are originally intro abdominal organs and descend to the scrotum after birth. When you tighten the abdominal; muscles or stroke the thigh region, the testis can get pulled up. This is due to a reflex mechanism involving the nerves of the autonomic system and called cremaster reflex. By tightening the lower abdomen there is contraction of the cremaster muscle which then causes pulling up of the testis on one side. Similarly, when the inner thigh is stroked, sensory fibers of the femoral branch of the genitofemoral nerve and the ilioinguinal nerve are stimulated. This synapse in the spinal cord and activate the motor fibers of the genital branch of the genitofemoral nerve which causes the cremaster muscle to contract and elevate the testis.