Signs and Symptoms...sort of.

My un-professional account of signs and symptoms based on my experience or described by others.

My impingement is a “pincer” type, which means there is a shelf-like bump of bone on my acetabulum (hip bone). This bony bump rubs against my femur (leg bone) and a deep aching in the groin, where the bottom bikini line runs from my outer hip through the pelvic area and back up and around the buttock. I also experience an aching knee, foot and lower back pain in the leg of the bad hip.

Imagine going to the doctor’s office and trying to explain this one. He/she asks, “so tell me where the pain is”…and I reply, “well, it starts in my knee but usually my lower back starts hurting at the same time, it works its way into my buttock and the side of my hip then settles into a deep deep aching and grinding pain in my groin. It feels like my bones are grinding together and popping and sometimes catching at the front like if I stepped another inch farther my leg’s gonna snap and that’ll be the end of me.

It took a while to get a diagnosis, not because my doctors were incompetent, but because I was pregnant the first few times I went to see someone for it, so x-rays were not an option. The first OS I saw did guess labral tear was a possibility.
So, labral tear occurs in the rim of that hip socket and causes a lot of pain. I can’t go into much detail on that because I don’t really know what else to say about it! All I know is my MRI arthrogram read that I didn’t have one. They’re often wrong (those MRI readings), so I’m hoping that mine was right because from what I’ve read those tears don’t have a real high success rate when repaired.

FAI affects people with very common lifestyles, for women they are usually around 20-40 years of age and have active lifestyles. Quite often they discover the pain around the time of pregnancy or shortly after delivery as well as during menstrual cycles or ovulation.

For men, it seems they are often highly athletic runners, cyclists, soccer players or professional athletes. Recently a first baseman for the Mets, C. Delgado was treated with arthroscopic surgery for FAI and I believe Greg Norman was as well. I’d have to double check about him, but it was some pro golfer.

Anyway, bottom line is the couch potatoes aren’t coming in with FAI. I read story after story of FAI sufferers who love the gym, to hike, to run or ride their bikes. These are individuals who cannot choose to live a sedentary lifestyle, but will not be able to do the things they love until the impingement is corrected. The only choice is surgery.

Activities often associated with FAI (almost all of which I have been involved in)
ballet
martial arts
yoga
cycling
running
soccer
football
cheerleading
kayaking

Mostly sports that require a full range of motion in the hip and especially internal rotation...another major symptom, I think the biggest indicator in the physical exam. This would be when the leg crosses over the midline of the body, that hurts like a $%^&*@#!!!

I am trying to find alternative methods of pain relief because I’ve discovered how extremely dangerous the NSAID meds are, these are the ibuprofen type non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs like Celebrex. I recently read on a message board that 70% of patients begin to develop ulcers in their stomachs only days after starting NSAID’s and more than 16,000 people die as a result of their complications from the drug. That is more than AIDS or Cervical Cancer….WHAT???? Why is that not common knowledge?

The worse part for me is the emotional damage. We are an active group of people who are fueled and find happiness in activities that are banned from us. We are in general positive and healthy individuals who did not do this to ourselves by being careless or neglectful. It’s a chronic pain that is impossible to explain to someone not experiencing it. I hate hospitals and doctors and would ignore it if I could, but I don’t get to do that and now I have to be a new mommy on crutches and how we’re gonna have our once a week trips to the Zoo this spring I do not know…I’ll keep you posted.