Introduction: The Road to Deciding on Hip Arthroscopy

I am a 44-year old female who, a little over 3 years ago, was diagnosed with a degenerative hip condition.  Problem was, I just wasn't quite sure what that meant and what the long term implications would be.  Not to mention, how did I get here in the first place?

In August of 2008, I was going to compete (participate) in my first half-ironman triathlon.  The day before, I thought it would be a good idea to be as loose as possible, so I took a yoga class.  The teacher was not one I normally took practice with, but I had taken one or two before.  At one point in the class, as we sat in bakhasana, he came up behind me and pressed by chest towards my knees.  Instantly, I had suspected that was not the best move on his part - for either of us. 

The next day, we left for the triathlon.  The race would be the following day.  I made it out of the river (a body of water I am not accustomed) in good time and embarked on the bike.  I just was not getting my rythym and was having a hard time adjusting.  Powering on, as I made it to mile 20, I felt a pull in my groin.  I shook it off to a cramp and kept going.  As I rolled into mile 30, the pain became unbearable.  I got off of my bike to stretch.  Got back on the bike and stopped again at mile 35.  When I asked one of the volunteers what would happen if I couldn't go on, I was told to pull over on the side of the road and wait for the meat wagon for pick up.  Not wanting to quit, I continued on.  Then I saw it.  Chalk Hill.  My groin was telling me, 'not today'.  I sat on the side of the road and waited. 

The next day, there was a dime-sized bump on my inner thigh.  I figured I had a groin pull, nothing less, and figured it would heal with time.  But, it didn't.  The next three years consisted of cortisone shots and physical therapy.  PT and a third opinion made me realize that it wasn't getting better.  So I chose surgery. 

I won't go into extreme detail here but will detail it in subsequent blogs.  I will say, before you decide on surgery make sure you do all of the following:

1. Choose  your doctor carefully.  And get at least three opinions, but don't let the doctor choose for you.  Do your research, take all opinions into consideration, but let the decision be yours;
2. Try all options before you decide.  If PT doesn't work, make sure you are in the best possible shape before you succomb to surgical options;
3. Listen to your body.  Give yourself a good two weeks to heal.  Your body has gone through trauma, no matter how minor the hip condition.  Let your body heal.

This is my story.  Hope it helps you along the way.