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 JULY 30, 2010 Arthroscopic Surgery Resolves Chronic Hip Pain If you suffer from chronic hip pain, you might be suffering from hip impingement, a recently recognized cause of hip pain in active adults. Hip impingement, medically known as femoro acetabular impingement or FAI, is an under-recognized, under-reported condition. Until recently, doctors performed open hip surgery, which requires a long recovery time and can be a painful procedure. New, less painful, minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery has now gained acceptance, and allows almost all athletes to return to action. The hip is a very tight ball-and-socket joint. In a healthy hip joint, the ball rotates freely in the socket. In some people a bony bump on the upper thigh bone produces a situation where there is inadequate space for the hip bone to move freely in the socket. This impingement damages the socket rim and the cartilage that lines the bones, which can lead to hip arthritis. Those who are genetically predisposed may develop hip impingement, but the symptoms often appear earlier in athletes, says Bryan Kelly, M.D., Co-director of the Center for Hip Pain and Preservation at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. He presented results this month at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine annual meeting in Providence, RI, of a study of 47 athletes who had arthroscopic surgery for hip impingement. The athletes, age 17 to 56 years, came from a variety of sports, including ice hockey, soccer, baseball, swimming, lacrosse, field hockey, football, running, tennis, crew, and horse back riding. More than three-quarters of the patients returned to play an average of 9 months after hip arthroscopy, and 92% returned to the same level of competition, he reported. If you have hip impingement, which is usually diagnosed by x-ray and MRI, you may be able to reduce pain and swelling in the hip joint through rest, taking anti-inflammatory agents, and physical therapy. If pain persists, ask your orthopedist if you're a candidate for arthroscopic surgery. |
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