There have been a number of clinical studies published about femoroacetabular impingement, a k a FAI, the hard-to-diagnose (and even harder to pronounce) condition that causes painful friction in the hip joint.
As a fellow sufferer, I’ve tried to keep up with as many of these studies as I can – or at least the ones that even an unscientific person like myself could understand.
This summer, as I was preoccupied with my own arthroscopic surgery to fix this problem, two more big studies, both by researchers from the Hospital for Special Surgery, came out. One was published in the July issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, which, by the way, contained a whole supplement about hip arthrscopy. The other was presented at the annual July meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine in San Diego.
The bottom line: arthroscopic hip surgery is just as successful in treating FAI as traditional open surgery, and hip arthroscopy greatly improves range of motion.
Before I summarize either of these studies, a brief explanation for those who may not already know this: arthrscopic surgery is a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure in which an arthroscope, or tubelike camera, is inserted into the joint area, along with specialized tubelike instruments that make the repairs. (See the illustration at the top of this post.)
In the first study, the researchers wanted to know whether arthroscopy and open surgery were equal when it came to achieving structural or mechanical corrections. Sixty FAI sufferers, all male under age 40, were tested: half were treated with open surgery, and half with arthroscopy. X-rays taken before and after surgery found that both surgeries had similar outcomes in nearly all cases.
In the second study, the researchers used computer-assisted, three dimensional analysis to assess differences in hip range of motion before and after arthroscopic surgery on 10 patients with FAI. They found improvement in internal rotation – that is, moving the knee to the middle of the body, and in hip flexion, the motion of bringing the knee to the chest.
Hmm, I seem to be finding all this out myself, with my own recovery!
Yeah, right? Thanks June!
Wow. And I thought fibromyalgia was a mouthful. I’m so glad you’re kicking butt!
Hey Kathleen!
While arthroscopic surgery is clearly the better way to go for many people like myself — it’s an ambulatory procedure and recovery time is comparatively short — apparently there are some people whose anatomy won’t allow it. Or, their problem is too severe to repair arthroscopically.
As far as ROM, that’s a good question! My physical therapist says I’m responding so well because I was pretty fit going into the surgery. Another good reason to stay fit, right?
Hi Vivian,
In what instances would doctors even DO open surgery for this? Seems only downsides for the patient–bigger wound, longer recovery.
Will your ROM be much greater than before the procedure?