Patient Stories

Julie

I was diagnosed with hip dysplasia as an infant (1983) when doctors were not so informed on the issue, I did not begin to have problems until I hit adolescence and that is when I had my first hip surgery. I experienced popping and clicking with pain and had some bone shaving of the hip socket and some cartilage replacement done, my right leg is a quarter of an inch longer than my left leg and I have to wear a heel lift in order for my body not to be leaning to the left too much which causes more pain.

I am now 32 years old and have osteoarthritis in my right hip and just had my third hip surgery September 25th to repair a laberal tear which could not be repaired because my laberal muscle is pretty much gone from my surgery 3 years ago, the doctor who did the surgery shaved some bone off of my hip ball joint to prevent anymore tearing of that muscle (which hopefully works).
I have tried physical therapy, injections in the hip which only lasted about a week and stayed away from sports and was told to stick to swimming. I have learned that being informed on hip dysplasia could have prevented most of my problems that I now experience.

Many doctors even now do not know much about hip dysplasia and there were many times where I was brushed off by doctors, which was very irritating and took me almost 2 years to find a doctor who finally did some x- rays and an MRI and found that I was not lying about my symptoms. I found out that my niece who is now 8 years old also has hip dysplasia and I am trying to gain as much information as possible for her and her mother so she can prevent problems. She was diagnosed as an infant and wore the special brace where her legs were to her sides like a frog.
I am terrified that I will have to have a hip replacement in the next 10 years and hopefully from doing research I can help my niece from experiencing pain and multiple surgeries as I have. I am hoping that this last surgery will provide some relief but I am not too sure. I have learned that hip dysplasia may cause mild scoliosis of the spine depending of the severity of the dysplasia.