Topic: My Hip Problem

[Andy Dick]

I finally saw an orthopedic about my hip problem I have had for more than a year now.  Some of you may remember me talking about it on the boards asking questions about it, here is the updated.  I put this on a post because I was asked about what I had by another lifter as well.

Here is the back story:
Through college I have had issues with hip pain starting each wrestling season.  Usually it occurred when it was in a full squat type position and my knee was forced away from my body.  Usually treatmen from the athletic trainers cleared it up in a few weeks so they thought it was just a pull or strain due to tightness starting each season.

Fast forward to around winter of '06, I was doing some bodybuilding work to put on some weight and I was doing heavy sumo deadlifts (feet wider than shoulder width deadlifts).  After my last set I help some pain in my hip that felt exactly like the injuries I had when in wrestling.  (Quick side note the pain was mostly dull pain, but sharp if my hip was flexed and my ankle was externally rotated, the pain also felt deep in the hip).  At this time I was super busy because I was interning at a D1 college weightroom.  So I was not able to see thier trainers.  Also, I had no insurance so I was not able to see a doctor.  I finally was able to see a PT after I was working at my current job and got insurance.  The PT helped but really didn't get it better, well eventually my insurance said they would not cover PT anymore so I stopped.  When seeing my chiropractor for a tune up he suggested I see an ortho who specialized in hips (same ortho who works for the milwaukee bucks it turns out).

So, today I see the ortho and after some tests and x-rays they find I have this femoro-acetabular impingement.  What it is in essence is that as you know the hip is a ball and socket joint.  Well, on my femur the ball that enters in the hip socket is flat at one part.  This when fully flexed causes problem on the cartilage in the joint with rubbing and scraping.  They also found some bone fragments in the cartilage already that they attibuted to possible earlier injuries (think wrestling back in the day).

What this means for me is a couple things.  1. the only correction for this is to correct the problem with surgery correcting the cartilage and bone.  2.  since I do not have pain often, only with certain activities and not all the times just once in a while the flexion and rotation activities, sumo deadlifts, and messier squats (side lunge moving side to side).  Especially no pain with a full back or front squat, snatch or clean and jerk.  That nothing is to be done with this.  What it entails is I deal with any pain when I have it and get routine check ups with the ortho every 4-6 months.  I do not need surgery right now and it is not recommended right now. 

So pretty much I can stop lifting and doing activites that involve full flexion of the hip, which may keep the hip from getting worse but it is not guaranteed.  Or (which is what I am going to do) is to just keep lifting and paying attention to my hip if at anytime my hip starts to be more painful more frequently and starting to lock up a lot I will probably have surgery to correct my problem (that is a relatively new procedure that has a 4-6 month recovery period back to full activity).  So for those who may be wondering there you go, this thing is obviously something that is only recognizable with x-ray but according to them this is a classic case of femoro-acetabular impingement.