hi! i am keeping this blog to help others preparing and recovering from PAO surgery, and hopefully get some tips from PAO veterans. i had my left PAO done with Dr Michael Millis at Children's Hospital Boston on November 12, 2010.
MY HIP BACKGROUND
i was diagnosed with congenital hip dysplasia, CHD (or developmental dysplasia of the hip, DDH) in summer 2010. i was told i have bilateral hip dysplasia, not too severe and less on the right side. i first noticed pain in my left groin area after trying to do one-legged squats with my trainer 2 years earlier (in my early 30s). i went to various orthopedic/sports medicine/primary doctors who told me to stretch more, stop exercising, avoid ballistic motion, or said i had leg length disparity or a torn labrum that was causing my pain. i avoided exercises that bothered my hip--mostly deep squats--and with time it would feel fine. i also did p/t with shake&bake treatment, massage, tried acupuncture and icing. those were all temporary fixes.
i'm pretty much a gym bunny. when i am healthy, i box 4-5x's/week, train 2-3x's/week, and usually play golf sat&sun during golf season. i do Crossfit type workouts, body weight exercises, gymnastics rings, rowing, jump rope, kettlebells, run stairs, box jumps. i hate running and stopped running when my hip started hurting.
in dec 2008 (one-legged squat pain was earlier in the spring), my trainer had me deadlift 135lb x1 rep and i did it fine. in spring 2009, i lost some weight (5-6% of my bodyweight) and we attempted a deadlift again but i was no where close to 135lb and it was hurting my hip. so we stopped trying to do deadlifts. in spring 2010, we were front squatting 70lb x5 rep when my hip got very unhappy. this was not a new exercise or weight for me, plus i hadn't been squatting as deep for a while. for whatever reason, this was the worst my hip pain ever got. my hip would hurt when my leg extended back while walking and i couldn't lift my leg comfortably over the shower tub or get socks on while standing. this lasted for a few weeks.
i was having shoulder blade issues so i went to a chiropractor to see if he could fix that. i told him about my chronic hip issue and he bent my leg around and decided i should get an MRI (NOTE: my trainer had been bugging me to get an MRI for over a year at this point but different dr's i saw wanted to try other futile treatment instead). the MRI report actually had bad news, suggesting dysplasia, grade 4 chondromalacia (arthritis), and a labral tear. i sent the report to a non-practicing physician friend who trained in orthopedic medicine. his response was, "bummer, you have hip dysplasia?" and suggested i go see a hip specialist, ideally one for PAO. he has a good buddy at Hospital for Special Surgery HSS, Dr Edwin Su who is a hip&knee specialist. after meeting with Dr Su, he referred me to Dr Michael Millis at Children's Hospital Boston CHB (my friend also happened to rotate under Dr Millis during med school). so far, NYC doesn't have a PAO guy but HSS is working on getting Dr Ernest Sink from denver.
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