It certainly been an emotional roller coast trying to figure out the how, what, where and why I was having main in my groin/hip area. I tried to rack my brain figuring this out and little did I know, the cause of all of this has been there probably since I was born.
Wednesday I had my first visit with my orthopedic surgeon to get some answers. Overall I would say the visit went very well and I felt completely comfortable with him. When I arrived I was first sent to get x-rays of my hip. When that was finished I made my way to the waiting area before his nurse came and got me for all the usual questions one gets asked at the start of a doctors visit. When the doc came in he asked me a few questions about the background of my injury and then proceeded to perform a physical exam. He twisted, pushed and pulled on my leg and hip spouting of a bunch of medical jargon for his assistant to write down.
When he was finished he pulled out his iPad to show me the results of my x-rays. What they show was some over growth of bone which amounts to, using a layman's term, a bump on the ball of the hip joint on top of the femur. How he explained it to me is there is cartilage lining the hip joint socket, called the labrum, that the ball on top of the femur rides on. When use my leg in a running stride type motion that bump rubs up against the cartilage and can cause irritation and / or a tear in that cartilage. So needless to say I got some answers, but it only raised more questions for me and my doctor.
So where do I go from here, well the next step is to find out if there is truly any damage to the cartilage itself, or any other factors that cannot be seen on an x-ray. Next up is the super expensive MRI next week, with a follow up visit the week after to go over the results. I would guess that after the MRI, doc will have an idea if this requires surgery or something else. I know I have my assumptions as to the answer to that question, but no need to put the cart before the horse.
Good luck! I've been waiting for your update. I had something very similar. The dip in my femur (if that makes sense) was more shallow I suppose in the bad hip. . . to the best of my knowledge I tore my labrum during a horse riding lesson (even though I'd been riding for years). The Dr said the xrays supported that putting my leg at just the right angle would have cause that bone to catch the labrum. When my tear was repaired my bone was shaved a bit as well to prevent recurring injury.
ReplyDeleteHonestly the surgery really wasn't that bad. I was off work for some time (I sit at a desk) cause I couldn't sit that long and I had restrictions on bending past 90 degress. So sitting was difficult as I could not lean forward (we do that all the time!). Therapy was easy enough and I had a machine that moved my hip for 6-8 hours a day. Once I was weight bearing and had my follow up I was told what time I could resume physical activity. . . I had a choice to start running or riding first. I chose running. :) I don't have much pain any more unless I do static standing. My hip clicks every now and again, but I'm much more comfortable post surgery. Good for you for getting a jump on this! It took me about 4 years of trying various therapies and wrong diagnosis.