So when I was skiing yesterday I met this lovely guy in the cafe who is an Osteopath, I was talking about my skiing and mentioned I had a hip operation. He immediately said
“Ahh FAI? Labral Tear???” and the conversation went from there.
He was impressed that I was up the mountain 5 months post op and boarding even better than him (sorry Mark…This a guess) 🙂 We then met again later coincidentally in a pub and talked about my experience over dinner much to the delight of our partners who dont have an interest in FAI!
A couple of key points from our conversation were:
- Hypermobility: I am hypermobile as defined by the 9 Point Beighton Hypermobility Test. This is interested as obviously the surgery for FAI could be considered to exacerbate thsi condition offering even more mobility…Controversial?
- Key factors that seem to crop up in FAI cases. My experience looking on forums etc is that ballet, horse riding, yoga, running…. these things seem popular with the FAI crew. Coincidence??
- Yoga as not a good thing for hyper mobile people like myself, the need to focus on strength work. I can confirm this as the stronger I am the better I feel with regard to all joint pain including my hips.
- Bilateral surgery does not happen as a rule yet in Aus. I think that my surgeon Dr Matt Brick of Orthosports is really ahead of the game in terms of doing the bilateral surgery. I will revisit his reassurance to me. Quote
”
We have done about 80 bilateral surgeries
We are publishing our results
no extra pain
no extra painkillers taken
no extra time back to work
no extra complications
results just as good when compared to patients who had only one hip done
You will still get around with crutches
Patients do very well”
I can confirm that all of these reassurances were true in my case anyway. It seems I have had the model recovery which further inspires me to blog as I want people to konw that if you go into this in the right place and time in youu life for you body, you have a chance at an amazing recovery and increased quality of life. There seems to be a lot of negativity on the forums. My story is a positive one. Only time will tell now with respect to long term prognosis but I am happy for now.
As usual any questions please feel free to contact me.
Mark, did I get your name and practice right? I think I did but if not let me know and Il update!! Great talking with you.
Simultaneous Bilateral Arthroscopy for FAI 
Hi,
A quick question, forgive me if this is on the blog somewhere. Did you have a cam or pincer impingement? Also was there a labral tear? Also you mention surfing. Did you used to get pinching in the front of the hip when you would jump to your feet (eg deep hip flexion) and if so is this better now (eg no pain surfing). Thanks for your blog.
Hi Shane, long time no reply sory about that. I had both cam and pincer impingement. And yes labral tears. To be honest it was the pain of the tears that made me seek advice, I had probably dealt with the FAI discomfort for years. The deep hip flexion pain has gone away, but I would be lying if I said that surgery didn’t leave you with a stiffness in the hips, its not a bone type stiffness, more of a joint capsule stiffness. It will require a lifetime of stretches and I really know when I have not been looking after my body as my hip flexors really shorten up and I get very tight round the front there. Overall I feel so much better though 🙂 My surfing may have suffered a little but nothing some general flexibility work wont sort out.
I had Cam and Pincer impingement Shane, there were labral tears also, I think he ended up using three anchors on each hip and he also told me I had a very very thin and fragile labrum.
Yes I used to get pinching hip at the front, and also kind of a deep groin pinch, its all much better now. However, my flexibility on the whole is way down, the hips are in general much tighter due to scar tissue etc, this is something I have neglected for a while but am progressively working on at the moment!
Surfing is much better now, but I do need to keep on top of that flexibility.
Hi can i be checky and asked how you paid for this? im in line for same surgery with same surgeon and had an estimate of 30 grand, not covered by acc and i have no medical insurance…wish i did now. Thanks
Hi Kristy, Really sorry its taken me so long to get back to you. I had health insurance with my employers, and that insurance after a bit of haggling did cover it so yes mine was all paid for. Honestly, I would not have been able to have had the surgery otherwise and would have looked into other ways to try to help my body. Thanks, Kate