My hip blew up. FAI surgery for a Triathlete.
It is pretty remarkable how quickly the body can shut down when you proverbially (or literally) hit the wall. For me, it was a morning in early November 2019 when I woke up like any other day, except my right leg refused to walk. I could tell from both the intense pain in the joint, and its unwillingness to support any real weight or motion, that something was wrong. Really really wrong. I chomped down some muscle relaxers that I had leftover from a shoulder strain and that got me mobile but did little to mask the massive amounts of pain that I was experiencing when planting or rotating my right leg.
For someone who loves to run and compete in triathlon, this was a very scary time. Soon after, an XRay and subsequent MRI confirmed a somewhat serious situation. Not only did I have a significant labral tear in the right hip, but also a ‘femoroacetabular impingement’ that ‘pinches’ the labrum, or in my case, shredded it to pieces. The result of the labral tear is bone-on-bone contact of my leg with my pelvis, which hurts like hell and can quickly lead to osteoarthritis, and that isn't good for anyone.
That brings us to the surgery, which I am undergoing to ‘polish down’ the bone that is causing impingement, and suture the labrum to stabilize the joint, and (hopefully) allow me to recover to 80-90% function. My problem is that I am a 120% kind of guy, and unfortunately there is little that I can do to guarantee success of any of this, aside from religiously following my PT schedule, trusting my doctors, and hope for the best.
Both my doctor and my surgeon have stated that I will need a full hip replacement at some point in my life, and their vested interest is to ‘repair’ the joint so that I hopefully can make it to an old man without needing one. They are recommending that I cease activity on the joint which causes excessive wear / impact, of which running does both. I am taking things one step at a time, but have a hard time envisioning that I can never compete again in Triathlon, a hobby and a sport that I love. My surgeon understands this, and if possible will do an experimental repair with a ‘spare labrum’ (ahem) and some stem cells. Will any of this work? Stay tuned to find out!
Seriously though, my body feels like some weird science experiment as a result of all of this. Fortunately I have tremendous doctors looking over me, one being the team doc for the NY Jets and the other an orthopedic surgeon that trained under Dr. James Andrews for a number of years at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham. I am taking 4-6 weeks off from work and will be unable to walk unaided for quite some time. Life on crutches and hobbling around isn't something that I am looking forward to, but honestly it will be somewhat of an improvement as long as the pain goes away. Aside from my scheduled PT, I am going to be pretty sedentary so hopefully I can find a few new things to occupy my time. Maybe try to learn to play guitar? I am sure my loved ones would be thrilled for me to find a less grueling ‘hobby’.
