Patient Stories

Thomas

Having read others experiences I thought I would share mine of Hip Dysplasia.

As a young teenager I was treated with physiotherapy and built up shoes for turning my feet in. It was always noticeable the inside of my heels on my shoes wore away faster than the outside,like a wedge.

I did all I was told until I got fed up,and then just carried on without wedges as I did not like to look odd at school.

I had a very active sports life with squash and tennis and football.At University I took up hill walking and skiing.

From about 19 years of age I got more pain in my left hip,noticable after walking and skiing. I ignored it for around eight years until after one ski holiday I genuinely thought I may have something nasty like a tumour as the pain was pretty bad and I was struggling to walk.

I went to see the GP who thought I’d probably strained the hip,but recommended X-rays.

I looked at the X-rays(I am a vet) and realised immediately my hips were dysplastic like a German Shepherd!

I was referred onto an orthopaedic surgeon and give the option of surgery or wait for a total hip(I was 28yrs old by now)

I elected surgery and had a rotational wedge osteotomy in the femur and a Bosworth Shelf(a piece of bone was chiselled off my pelvis and slotted over the acetabulum to cover the femoral head.

I had to be egg shell weight bearing for three months and ended up having five months off work as I was involved in farm work.When I returned to work I had to use the cows to lean on as I went around pregnancy diagnosing them.

It took a couple of years to regain confidence after the surgery and I thought I had made the wrong decision for a long time.

Well to cut a long story short I am still on my original hips,I have skied each year after a few years off at the beginning,I walk regularly and run the occasional 10 km race (and park runs on a Saturday am).

I do get discomfort if I do too much,but it generally goes off around 48 hours after excessive exercise and i stiffen up on car journeys and overnight.I am now 51 years of age and intend to keep going as long as I can.

I will always remember the first consult with the orthopod.He said well its not life limiting but you’ll need a THR in around fifteen years.

Realise it is an outdated operation no but I reckon it worked for me.