Hello, I am a 22 year old female, a college soccer player, and a member of the military. I first experienced pain deep inside my right hip when I was 15 (2011), after running a half marathon. After months of PT it was determined that I had torn my labrum. In November of 2012, I had surgery to repair the tear and was back to soccer by the end of February 2012. However, my surgeon had discovered that I actually had hip dysplasia. I never really felt 100% after the surgery, and there would be times in which my hip would "pinch" and then ache for a few minutes up to a few hours. Soccer was do-able, but really not that comfortable.
I then got to college and played two years of soccer with manageable pain, but in August of 2016 I began to feel a greater amount of pain than I had in the last couple years. My new surgeon suggested the head of my femur was a little irregular, and that could be the cause of my re-torn labrum. I had surgery in April of 2017, and missed out on my last soccer season. I was on crutches for 6 weeks and in "recovery time" for 6 months. I gained a little relief, but to be honest i still feel the same pinching pain when i cross my legs, squat deeply. or bring my knee to my chest. I don't know if it's in my head, or if there is any medical answer for this. It's been 6 years of hip pain so any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.
Dear Ellen,
sorry for your continued pain. I know how debilitating and uncertain it can be. One day I thought I was ok. The next I could barely walk or move. I had a Rt total hip 7 weeks ago, with a pretty normal re overt. Without the walker within a week, cane went away about week 5-6. A whole lot more movement and comfort without pills than I ever imagined it would be. I’m in the US and in one conversation with my surgeon he told me that most hip arthroscopies end up with replacements. Plus I didn’t want to go through 2 procedures instead of one, and I can live with a few restrictions.
Because of your age and level of activity there are probably very different answers for you and because of your level of activity, the life of any of the replacements are probably shorter than someone like me.
Having said that, you are much too young to live in this level of pain and restriction as you describe. I would urge you to seek out other opinions. Ask around for a surgeon who has experience with younger sports related surgeries and has had good, long term results for those patients. Ask the hospital nurses, ask the Physical Therapist who they would see if they were you. And if you have not had an MRI within a year, I would let my surgeon know I really want one so we can see what’s going on now. Since the radiologists read them, not the surgeons, you get an objective opinion on the current state of your hip.
Good luck and let us know what you find or do.
Sorry but the word was recovery, not overt. Hijacked by autocorrect