FAI - femoro Acetabular Impingement

[msburesh]

Hello,

I am looking for some help here and hoping someone will be able to provide. I was
a collegiate wrestler in the late 1980's at Michigan State University. I injured my hip in
practice in 1990. The injury coupled with the congenital hip dsyplasia I had forced me to head to Mayo clinic. A surgeon there performed a chiari osteotomy - a shelf type procedure on my left hip which was suposed to manufacture a functional hip socket. The surgery was a complete failure and within 5 years I return to the OR. This time I found the GURU of them all. Dr. Jeff Mast who is a genius in my mind. He performed a PAO - peri acetabular osteotomy. This surgery was a sucess and I have function extremely well for 10 years. Only within the last year have I developed a lot of pain on the anterior portion on the hip along with soreness in the upper hamstring and groin area. Through meeting with a surgeon in chicago (Dr. Mast is semi retired now in CA, but the surgeon in Chicago was an understudy) I have been diagnosed with FAI. femero acetabular impingement. The coverage anteriorly is too great causing improper flexion on the left side. The labrum in torn due to the trochanter pounding the labrum and anterior acetabulum. The anterior portion will need to be retracted and possibly the neck of the femoral head may have to be reangled. The FAI surgery via surgical dislocation is the proposed option. The best guess is that arthritis will form at a great rate if the impingement is not corrected. So far, the arthritis in the joint itself has not progressed to rapidly. My question is a simply one but the answer has not been so easy to find. My contemplation is ------ if the arthritis is not a major issue now, is it really worth it to have the surgery now! Will I really get enough pain relief. Is there a 50% chance that I will get 50% relief from the pain or what? I think the arthritis development can be monitored on a regular basis. Currently the structure is strong and well re orientated by Dr. Mast. With young children and me trying to maintain an active lifestyle is the surgery really worth it. I am trying to find out if there will be enough pain relief??? please help, anyone out there having a similar history???

Thank you,
Matt:confused: :confused:

[tdav20]

Matt - I am interested to hear what you decide. I too and faced with the identical decision. I was a runner in high school and college and just recently began having hip problems. Last summer I was diagnosed with a laberal tear (which I was initially told could be due to trauma) and had arthroscopic surgery last October. After 3 months of failed physical therapy, 3 cortisone shots, I returned to the doctor today. After an x-ray, he diagnosed me with FAI, and gave me the option to have the major surgery of hip dislocation and bone recontouring. I have scheduled the surgery for October 31st. I was told it would require hospital admittance of around three days, and there would be a long recovery - up to 3 months. Did you have the surgery? Was it worth it? Will it not be an option at a later time if I let the FAI cause major arthritic complications?

[injuryupdate]

This is pretty major surgery with mixed results. If you can live with your hip joint the way it is, I would avoid it. If you are youngish and in dire straights, it gives you an option.

Down the track partial or total hip replacement works extremely well, but it is an option you'd like to be 60 years old before you subject yourself to it, so that you don't need to have too many revisions.

[Leeny61]

Hello, I am a female, 45 Y/O Post surgical of Left Labral tear as well as Acetabular Impingment. Surgery date: 9/18/06. My surgery lasted aprox. 2 1 /2-3hours and Very painful upon waking up(Low pain threshold) 4wks Post Op and although the pain is nowhere what it was upon waking, I find much pain at the outer hip area, possibly where the Dr. did the bone restructure? I go back for another post op Thurs. the 19th. I am anxious to go back as I am nervous about the pain that at times seems worse than before. Dr. did expalin that the recovery period could be 8-12 weeks, however after having many other operations, I assumed that by now I would at least be walking normal. I see that many that post here are men and what is funny is that the Dr. told me this was very rare and more popular in women then men. I don't even know when I injured my labrum, however I know that I lived with pain for 17 years and as it worsened, my family Dr. finally ordered an MRI on the hip and found the labral tear and the Ortho surgeon during Orthoscopic surgery found the impingment and made about a 6" incision to fix the bone. I am interested with anyone with similiar stories and their rehabilitation. As of right now my Dr. says I do not need PT. However, My range of motion is very limited and of course I am concerned. With so little learned in the medical field on this problem. I wonder what other options are out there for faster recovery period.

[aburoker]

I am a 29 yr old female who had the surgery that Matt is considering. I did this on July 27, 2006. Four and a half months out and I feel like a new person! I would have surgery again tomorrow if I needed it. The recovery wasn't so much fun, 10 weeks on crutches, but doable. I had pain for 2 weeks and then went right on to Tylenol for another week. As of mid December I am running 1/2 a mile at a time every day. I could not run before the surgery. This was a life saver!

[Surfchick]

Please read posts on acetabular labral tear on this site. It covers FAI, lax capsules, arthroscopy etc. It helps quite a few of us.

I am keen to hear how you are all doing - maybe you could join onto the other thread?

croydesurfchick@yahoo.co.uk

Marc Philipon in Vail, Colarado appears to have the world lead on these hip problems - only wish I could afford to go from the UK to see him!

Surfchick

[msburesh]

It's been a while since I've been on but I did have the FAI with open dislocation on January 5th in Chicago at Loyola Univ. with Dr. Stover. It came down to me just realizing that the pain needed relief and that OA was going to take over that joint if I didn't have something done. The surgery proved to be very neccessary as it took 7 1/2 hours to repair, retract, remove old hardware, etc. The damage was considerable but I seem to be healing pretty well. I figure that by the end of March I should be up and running great.

Matt

[willardjr27]

Hello. I'm a 34 y/o male who had Artho/Open Dislocation for right hip FAI on March 20, 2007. I have two questions:
1. I've read many different recommendations regarding running after surgery for FAI. How many of you continue running after your surgery? How long did you wait? How many of your doctors implicitly told you not to run?
2. I'm required to take part in martial arts for my job (active duty military). I've also read this type of activity isn't recommended. Any opinions on this topic?
Thanks!
Bill