Teh hipz

Originally posted by Jay P.
"there is always a lot going on. I fumble often thinking what to blog about specifically when there is so much to say...."

Yeah Jay, that sounds a lot like the same problem I have after spending the summer away from the blog. Tough to decide where to start, so I'll go ahead and get the bad news out of the way.

Last spring I dislocated my hip during a snowboarding accident at Steamboat. The Steamboat ski patrol did an absolutely amazing job caring for me and transporting me off the mountain. All I can say about the Steamboat ski patrol is that they provide top of the line medical treatment and rescue services and I trust the team with my life as much as any EMT or ER doctor on earth.

This is my left hip, out of socket. It turns out my dislocated hip is the least of my problems and may have saved me from needing total hip replacements.


All the x-rays and CT scans I received showed a lot more going on with my hips than just the dislocation.
It turns out that I have bone spurs growing on my femurs that are starting to cause damage to my hip sockets and if it weren't for my snowboard accident I wouldn't have known anything was wrong with my hips until they were ruined.

My bone spurs, or (lesions) are starting to cause a medical term called (FAI) short for Femoroacetabular impingement.

Here is a good explanation of FAI-
"Femoroacetabular impingement or FAI is a condition of too much friction in the hip joint. Basically, the ball (femoral head) and socket (acetabulum) rub abnormally creating damage to the hip joint. The damage can occur to the articular cartilage (smooth white surface of the ball or socket) or the labral cartilage (soft tissue bumper of the socket).

FAI generally occurs as two forms: Cam and Pincer. The Cam form (Cam comes from the Dutch word meaning “cog”) describes the femoral head and neck relationship as aspherical or not perfectly round. This loss of roundness contributes to abnormal contact between the head and socket.

The Pincer form (Pincer comes from the French word meaning “to pinch”) describes the situation where the socket or acetabulum has too much coverage of the ball or femoral head. This over-coverage typically exists along the front-top rim of the socket (acetabulum) and results in the labral cartilage being “pinched” between the rim of the socket and the anterior femoral head-neck junction. The Pincer form of the impingement is typically secondary to “retroversion”, a turning back of the socket, or “profunda”, a socket that is too deep. Most of the time, the Cam and Pincer forms exist together.

FAI is associated with cartilage damage, labral tears, early hip arthritis, hyperlaxity, sports hernias, and low back pain.

FAI is common in high level athletes, but also occurs in active individuals."

In my case I have Cam lesions on both femurs. An MRI revealed that my lesions have caused tears to the labral tissue that lines the hip cartilage, but my hip cartilage appears to be undamaged.
Treatment of FAI requires arthroscopic surgery to repair my labral tissue and remove my lesions. Unfortunately, labral tissue heals very slowly and each surgery comes with a 6 month recovery period before I can resume normal activities, and even longer before I can start snowboarding.

After discussing my options with my orthopedic surgeon I have decided to put off my hip scopes for as long as safely possible so I can continue working my caretaker job on the mountain.

So until its time for surgery I will be out enjoying myself and making the most of every day.