Patient Stories

Cara

I first began experiencing hip pain when I was 17 years old and a junior in high school. I was trying out for my varsity soccer team when I felt that I had pulled my hip flexor. I took a few days off from practice to wait for it to heal, but unfortunately it never got better. I would wait a few days then try to run, and the same pain would always return, quickly becoming sharper and deeper into the joint. I saw a doctor in NYC, and he diagnosed me with a labrum tear in my right hip. I had my first hip arthroscopy done in the winter of 2008.

When I went back for my 6 month check up and complained to the surgeon that I still had the exact same pain as before the surgery, he looked at me like I had four heads. He told me it was impossible and sent me away. I don’t think I did any real activity for two years after that, but slowly broke into swimming, which seemed to make my muscles stronger. Eventually I did get back into running (approx 3 miles, 5 times a week) but that took about 3 years post-surgery.

After college graduation in 2012 I got into crossfit, and within a year of starting that, my hip pain came back in both hips. I went back to the same surgeon (stupid me) and he did more MRIs and told me there were still labrum tears in my left and right hips. He said that the surgery I had in 2008 was now more advanced, and they were more aggressive with shaving down the head of the femur so it did not tear at the cartilage in the hip. I had another arthroscopy on my left and right hips in 2015.

The pain stayed the same, originally only occurred when I was active (I limited my activities significantly) and day-to-day was manageable. But over the following months pain kept getting worse and became more day to day. Now I cannot walk around the block with my mom or go on hikes with my boyfriend. And I am a person who LOVES to be active, running or biking or weight lifting are all out of the question.
I met with a new doctor a few months ago (approx September of 2016) to look again at my labrums. He took a good look at my hip and mentioned that the joints appeared to be anteriorly rotated (basically, they were pushing forward out of the socket) so that the socket was not fully covering the femur. He referred me to a specialist who is supposed to be the best. The new doctor diagnosed me with mild hip dysplasia (you wouldn’t see it on a regular xray) and recommended me to have a PAO so that the femur is correctly seated and protected by the joint. He says my illiopsoas and hip flexor pains happen because they are essentially taking over the role of the hip socket and “holding” my hip joint in place. It seems like a believable explanation for my horrible tendon and muscle pain in the front of my hip and in my groin.
I’m now scheduled to get this PAO surgery on my right hip on August 8th. I need to wait a few months due to work obligations and needing time to pray about such a serious surgery. I have seen way too many horror stories on the internet of people who got worse from this surgery, and cannot function day-to-day without horrible pain. My pain is bad, but the devil you do know is better than the devil you don’t! Hoping that someone might have had a similar experience as me and might have some advice. Thank you!