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Testicle pain
Category: Men's Health · All men's health symptoms
What it can feel like
Testicle pain is pain in one or both testicles, ranging from a dull ache to sudden severe pain. The time course is everything here: sudden severe testicle pain is a surgical emergency until proven otherwise, while a gradual ache with swelling has infective and structural causes that still need prompt review.
Possible causes
A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.
Common causes
Testicle pain can be associated with infection of the epididymis (epididymitis — gradual onset, swelling, often urinary symptoms or a sexually transmitted infection), a knock or injury, a varicocele (bag-of-worms veins, dull ache worse standing), and referred pain from a kidney stone or hernia.
Other possible causes
Sudden severe testicle pain can be testicular torsion — the testicle twisting on its cord and strangling its own blood supply, commonest in teenagers and young men — or torsion of a small appendage. Torsion is salvaged by surgery within hours, so the pattern overrides all other workup.
Red flags — when to seek help promptly
- Sudden severe testicle pain — go to emergency care immediately, every time
- Testicle pain with the testicle sitting high, swollen or exquisitely tender
- Testicle pain with nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain
- Testicle pain with fever, urinary burning or discharge
- Testicle pain after trauma with swelling or bruising
- Any testicle pain in a boy or teenager — same-day assessment
What a clinician may do
In emergency care, suspected torsion goes to theatre on clinical judgement alone — delay for scans costs testicles. Gradual pain is assessed with examination, urine testing and STI swabs; scrotal ultrasound maps cysts, fluid and blood flow where the diagnosis is in doubt.
Watch: related videos
Examination and clinical videos from the MedicalVideos.com library relevant to this symptom. Some clinical footage is graphic — that is the nature of a medical video library.
Related guides on MedicalVideos.com
Frequently asked questions
Why is torsion so time-critical?
A twisted cord blocks blood flow both ways. The testicle tolerates roughly six hours of complete ischaemia well, with salvage falling steeply after — so assessment is measured in hours, not appointments, and surgeons explore on suspicion rather than waiting for certainty.
Can a kidney stone cause testicle pain?
Yes — the stone's pain travels along shared nerve pathways from the loin through the groin into the testicle. Testicle pain with colicky flank pain, restlessness and blood in the urine often starts in the kidney, not the scrotum.
Related symptoms — Men's Health
Browse the T section of the A–Z list or return to the Symptoms A–Z hub.