So I now know for sure I have a labral tear in my hip along with the arthritis. A labral tear is a tear in the soft cartilage of the joint. Used to be much more common in shoulders but now it's becoming very common in the hip. I think it's because they have better tools to diagnose it. My doctor says I have options. Live with it and do nothing or arthroscopic surgery to fix it.
I decide to live with it even though I can't run anymore it's not limiting anything else and it's not that painful at the moment. I first felt the pain in my hip in November of 2007. After all the tests to figure out what the problem was it was well into December. As the days went by my hip did get worse. I started feeling it catch on the torn cartilage and that is not pleasant. It was my busy season so I did live with it for a few months. I asked my doctor for his referral to someone who does this surgery. Again, at the time there were very few doctors that even did the surgery. Luckily I found a really good doctor in Miami. I would have gone wherever I needed to for a well qualified doctor. I had found a couple that had done one or two but that is not enough for me. This doctor originally trained under a Canadian doctor that pioneered the technique and had done thousands. Of course I talked to his nurses and physical therapy staff beforehand too. It's amazing what they will tell you, they are a great source of information.
My doctor said that I had some bone spurs and lots of arthritis he could clean up while he was in there. He would repair the tear, clean off the head of the humerus and poke small holes to stimulate blood flow to grow a different type of cartilage. You can't regrow the original, but this was supposed to be better than nothing. It was arthroscopic so minimally invasive and an out patient procedure. I would have to be on crutches for a while. I decided to go ahead with it.
The surgery itself was no big deal. Three tiny scars on my upper thigh and in and out the same day. Rehab was another matter. Not much pain but I could not put any weight on it at all. None. They were very adamant about it. For five weeks. Crutches for 5 weeks. And you get to use the automatic joint movement machine they use for knee replacements. You get to set it to a certain range of motion for your leg and you get to lay there while it goes up and down in slow motions for 30 minutes to an hour once or twice a day. After so many days you get to increase your range of motion. It was incredibly boring so I got a lot of reading and napping done.
If you've ever been on crutches you know how much fun that is. Everything you do takes three times as long. Luckily I could drive myself around after the first week. So I went to physical therapy three times a week, along with the leg machine at home and all the exercises I did at home my physical therapist gave me. All very tedious and boring because I could not put any weight on my hip. All my exercises were done laying down, for five weeks. Ironically I was the Fitness Director at one of the local country clubs. And I was still training clients. How does it look to have your trainer come in on crutches? Or to see your Fitness Director hobbling around on crutches? You really have to keep your sense of humor. As with anything you get through it and it could always be worse.
One of the happiest days of my life was when the doctors said I could get rid of the crutches. Although my physical therapist said not so fast. I could get rid of one of them. I had to use one for a week and then wean myself off the one so many hours a day over the second week. I did what he said, he knows his stuff. After you go through any surgery do what your physical therapist tells you. Make sure he's good though. I have had some that just followed a cookie cutter outline and it didn't really apply to my circumstances. You want one that takes your specifics into consideration, what kind of shape are you in, pain, range of motion, so many other things. You want to get the best results possible from your surgery so do what your physical therapist tells you. It's hard, you may feel like you can do more or your are bored. Don't do it unless you talk to them first. I always asked for more and when can I do certain things.
I had a friend of mine go through the same thing. She was younger and didn't have arthritis but had the labral tear. Had the surgery and then didn't listen to her physical therapist and did too much and the wrong things. She had a lot of pain and was slow in recovering. You don't want to undo what you just had the surgery for. I can't say it enough. Find a good physical therapist and then do what they say. It's ok to question them, they usually have good reasons. It's ok to tell them you want more. Just make sure you listen to what they say.
The surgery did help, my hip did not catch anymore and it did feel better. Unfortunately is didn't cure it, I still had arthritis. My doctor did say it wouldn't fix everything but might put off a hip replacement 5-10 years. Still couldn't run, I mean I could but it didn't feel good so I didn't. I took up swimming instead. Life throws you curve balls it's how you deal with it that matters. I wasn't happy about giving up running. Even if running wasn't my favorite thing no one likes it when something is dictated to you and it's not your choice. That's the tough part. I did shed a tear or two over it but then moved on. Turns out I love swimming! It's amazing what good things come out of bad situations if you keep an open mind and try.
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