Labral Tear FAI Hip impingement, and hockey players that aren't young anymore.

[uieluck]

Hi! I usta be an “ok” player. I played D3 college & had a cup of coffee ☕️ in the minors. But NOW at 49, my hips are totally eff’ed. I still skate 1 - 2 a week. My power, explosiveness or any one-legged’ness is toast. My right hip is the worst, I actually walk with a limp, and I’m not a pimp. I’ve seen an ortho (hip specialist). And like A LOT of hockey players, I have torn labrum’s, and some decent FAI going on.
Question? Has anyone on here had hip surgery (NOT THR)? If so, please share. Femur ball smoothing, or labrum repair? Not hip replacement.

I'm (pretty anti-surgery),,, but these days I'm about 30% of anything physical.
I've been going to PT, the Chrio etc. with little to no result.

I would love to hear from HOCKEY PLAYER specific people.

 

[Mojo333]

Hi Friend.
You can use the search feature for the terms FA, Iabral repair, and even hockey.

She's a THR recipient but @thepuckhead may come and say hello.

 

[Caison113]

I second the recommendation of @thepuckhead as she is our resident hockey expert and around the same age.

That said, I've not heard a lot of long-term success stories around labrum repair (if the cartilage is gone, there's nothing to repair). I have heard nothing around femur ball smoothing, but we often hear of hip resurfacing, which is replacing the ball but preserving the neck of the femur.

At your age, it will be a discussion with the ortho what is the right approach as I could see arguments for and against THR.

I didn't play hockey, but did kickboxing and other martial arts plus tennis and boy was I limited. I'm not competing or doing hardcore sparring, so it wasn't important for me to really focus on those as much as quality of life. That said I got back into my usual routine pretty quickly after surgery.

 

[JusticeRider]

Hi @uieluck Welcome to BoneSmart!

Has anyone on here had hip surgery (NOT THR)? If so, please share. Femur ball smoothing, or labrum repair?

Yep, 2 surgeries for FAI, first with labrum debridement, second with labrum repair.

I would love to hear from HOCKEY PLAYER specific people.

Nope, not a hockey player, sorry! Hiker, backpacker, snowshoer, horse trainer, endurance rider here. But I can still share my experience with the surgery and I hope it’s helpful. Sorry if it gets a bit lengthy!

First surgery at age 37. No injury, just some left hip, back, and knee pain that evolved into severe hip pain. Had a ‘mini open’ procedure and had a cam impingement reduced and the tear in my labrum trimmed. Little did we know he had missed a bit of impingement but fortunately he got enough that, along with the labrum debridement, it gave me full relief once I had rehabbed. It was a long and challenging recovery, but I was doing slow easy hikes and rides by 5 months, and at 14 months successfully completed an extremely challenging 4 day, 50 mile backpack through the rugged Olympic mountains in WA state. I went on to have 6 great years with the hip the way it was with many hardcore exciting backpacking adventures and rides on my horse and my customers’ horses.

Second surgery at age 43. I had injured my left knee backpacking and while I was limping along with that, got rammed by a goat in my left leg. (Seriously.) Right between my hip and injured knee. The next day my knee pain had greatly increased and was joined by new severe hip pain. I believe the goat attack re-tore my left hip labrum and finished off the cartilage in my left knee. The hip pain continued and worsened and I had arthroscopic surgery a few months later to remove residual impingement and repair my torn labrum. The surgeon had cadaver tissue at hand in case it was needed to repair the labrum, but I had enough tissue left that she was able to stitch and repair it.

This recovery was complicated by the fact that my knee was still in a lot of pain. It made it very difficult to rehab my hip. Nevertheless, my hip has gotten me through 2 years of knee pain and two knee surgeries. I have depended on it heavily. I can bend over and put both hands flat on the floor without bending my knees (this has come in very handy!). Now that I’m able to do more and have greater range of motion and ability to use my knee, I have had periods of tightness and discomfort in my hip from time to time. I am mostly not concerned because it feels like soft tissue tightness and not at all like the awful pain I had pre hip surgery. And I know it never got to fully rehab with the knee limiting everything I did. Of course it makes me nervous, but it actually seems to be functioning very well as my whole body adjusts to my new knee.

To sum it up, I’m very glad I did the FAI surgery, both times. I still have my native hip and at my young age, that’s a very good thing! I expect it to be fully functional and comfortable once I get this knee rehabbed and my whole body back in alignment and in shape. Meanwhile I have no sharp pains and full ROM in that hip! Just choose your surgeon carefully and ask lots of questions. Good luck with your research and decision! Happy to answer any questions if you have them.

 

[thepuckhead]

Hi, @uieluck !

Well, first of all, wow, congrats on that cup of coffee! I'm a rec hockey player, but I've played for 20 years (skater and some goalie) and I do know the feeling of dread at the words "hip surgery." I had a replacement myself, but that's because I had end stage arthritis that was so bad I never knew which stride was going to be the one where my bones caught/stuck and I'd go stumbling down the ice, just trying to keep from falling let alone chasing the puck. Not fun.

All that to say - surgery is never a welcome prospect, but, from what I read, you have tried PT and chiro and the conservative treatments haven't worked. Your pain isn't getting better. Knowing that, I think you can rest assured that surgery is a reasonable option to get rid of the pain and restore functionality and range of motion. If your quality of life is suffering, then it's time to really consider your options.

I do know a few people who have had successful FAI surgeries. One was a goalie, and her hips were shot. When they went in, they discovered bone on bone arthritis and so her surgery turned into both labrum tear repair AND placement of cadaver cartilage. She had several good seasons after that before she moved to Florida (who does that???). No problems with slides, butterfly, kick outs, etc.

Can't offer specific pointers from the surgery, but I will offer some thoughts in case they're helpful:

You don't mention arthritis in your post - I'd say be very, very sure your surgeon rules that out. FAI surgery done in the presence of arthritis can accelerate arthritis and aggravate it to the point where a replacement becomes necessary. Doesn't sound like that's an issue for you, but I'd want to be sure in your situation.

Discuss your goals with your surgeon and ask specifically about hockey. You can even ask whether your surgeon has done this surgery on hockey players and what the results were. I at least felt much better when the two surgeons I talked to didn't blink an eye at the idea of playing hockey after hip replacement and had several patients who were hockey players.

Do your legwork and spend the money now to find your surgeon. You want someone who has an approach/attitude that fits with you as well as someone who does these surgeries day in/day out. Consult with as many as you need to until you're confident you've found someone whose style works well with your concerns. I don't know how many options you have where you are, but maybe your other hockey player buds have recommendations?

Recovery is very personal and non-linear. Commit to doing whatever it takes to maximize your rehab. That includes being disciplined about listening to your body and not pushing it to the point of pain or regression just because you hear the stories about so and so who had the same surgery and ran three marathons and then bungee jumped out of an airplane the next day. That's a tough one for me, as I'm used to a more punishing, no pain/no gain, I can TOO do this approach. It doesn't work with surgery rehab. I have found it helpful to read blogs or stories about athletes who come back from traumatic injuries far more severe than mine and learned a lot about how a humble mindset works wonders.

I hope that helps. Keep us posted! Going to tag in @Charlie33, too, as he also played hockey and may know some more stories to share.

Cheers!

 

[uieluck]

thepuckhead—THANK YOU!

My surgeon said he didn't see enough (if any) arthritis for any alarm.
I had an MRI back in January, and since then...... I've been barely able to function. Meaning, my hips were a (consistent) 1–3 all the time. Since they took the 6 inch long needle and injected MRI fluid at the top of my femur, it's been a SOLID 6–7. Today, I was basically walking on one leg.
No, I don't have any hockey friends that have had FAI,,,,, they all go "you're getting a hip replacement", I'm like "no, my stuff is just really clapped–out".

I just responded to this on Reddit (under uieluck)
An MRI with contrast made my pain worse
Cause, I've been having such ACUTE pain.

And "unfortunately" I'm self employed, and the work I do is fairly physical. So, I've been researching some long term disability insurance options.
So, one way or another I have to get healthy.

Thanks for all the input!