You probably came across this blog for one of two reasons. One being that we are friends and you want to keep tabs on my recovery. The other is because you googled "torn labrum", "hip pain", or "FAI" because you have hip issues and are having trouble finding resources. Whatever your reason might be, I am glad you are here. I should begin by telling you how I ended up here, four days away from major hip surgery 377 miles away from home. My background as a multi-sport athlete led me to my fair share of injuries along the way. I can't help but wonder if my lack of taking care of myself as a teenager is now catching up with me. I had my share of ankle and knee injuries over the years, but never any issues with my hips.
My passion for running started in 2008 when I ran my first half marathon. I ran one the next year and was hooked. In July of 2012 I was in the midst of training for a Ragnar race. This is a team relay race where you run from one city to another. I was slated to run a relay from Miami to Key West in January of 2013 with a group of runner friends. This race was totally what I needed to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone. I started training pretty heavily over the summer to get myself in shape to run my 3 legs of a combined 17 miles. I was up for the challenge and feeling good training wise.
As my training progressed I was balancing running with weight training. I was in the gym working out one day in late July when I started to feel a pain in my hip while doing lunges. As I typically do, I ignored it and kept going. Two days later I was bending down getting laundry out of the dryer and as a stood up I felt an intense pain in my right hip. It was so bad that I literally dropped everything in my hands in fell to the ground. It took a good 5 minutes to pick myself up off the floor, drag myself to the couch to try to figure out what the heck was going on. The pain eventually went away and I was sure that I pulled a muscle in my thigh and it would be okay. I went with that notion for the remainder of the summer as I continued to run and weight train. I started noticing a "catching" sensation from time to time, but ignored it and trained on.
As school started I noticed more pain on a consistent basis. I teach health & physical education, and coach two middle school sports, so as school started my activity level increased. With that increase there was also a rise in my hip pain. It got so bad when I was coaching volleyball that my hip was catching every time I stood up from the bench during a game. I would hobble and limp up to the huddle looking like a 80 year old woman. I started to think maybe this wasn't muscular. My boyfriend, Gabe, told me that he would not put a ring on my finger until I went to the doctor to get this figured out. He hated seeing me in pain and was done putting up with my stubborn ways. I began to think this wasn't going to go away.It was keeping me from living my normal life, I was struggling to get work outs in without paying for it the next day. I began to become discouraged that I couldn't do the things I wanted to do.
My next step was to go to my chiropractor. Now I know what some of you might be thinking, a chiropractor?? I was non-believer until about three years ago when I hurt my back. My mom is a massage therapist, and when she couldn't fix me she sent me to a chiropractor. Dr. Pettay is awesome. He wants to fix you and never see you again. I have never had to go for multiple adjustments and he is very open and honest in his approach. I was beginning to think that maybe my hip was out of place and maybe an adjustment would help. So I went in and that was not the right move. I yelped in pain during the adjustment and he quickly sent me to my orthopedist. Something else was going on.
I went to see Dr. Edwards on October 17, 2012, almost three months to the date of the beginning of my hip pain. I started with an x-ray, and he told me that he was pretty sure I tore my labrum, the cartilage in my hip joint. I needed to get an MRI to see what was going on for sure. I had an MRI two days later that confirmed what he thought, the majority of my labrum was torn and a cyst had formed in my hip joint. This explain the "catching" sensation I was feeling. I was happy to have an answer but nervous to hear my treatment options. After much discussion it was decided that I would go to Nashville, TN to have arthroscopic hip surgery with Dr. Thomas Byrd.
Note: Ten days later on October 28 (after seeing multiple doctors) Gabe followed through on his promise and proposed! :)
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