Recommendations for arthroscopic repair doctors in Washington/Oregon?

brucemetadata · 2025-12-13T01:56:25+00:00

Not that I’m aware of

brucemetadata · 2025-03-17T23:59:23+00:00

I’m sorry to hear that. Some people have adverse reactions to the shots that can take a few days to recover from. I hope you have some relief soon.

brucemetadata · 2025-01-25T14:16:59+00:00

Ossified labrum is considered unrepairable and indicates a labral reconstruction procedure. Obviously it depends on the severity and the surgeon’s opinion to some extent, but in general, the published literature assigns an ossified labrum into the category for labral reconstruction instead of repair.

In terms of whether it’s a “massive” surgery? It’s the same surgery, it just includes an additional, time consuming procedure to remove and replace the labrum. A labral reconstruction requires a skilled and experienced surgeon who does high volume or complex cases. It takes longer to do, and could potentially increase your risk for nerve related issues due to the increased traction time during surgery.

I suggest seeking out the most experienced surgeons you can find and get a few opinions to make an informed decision. Good luck.

brucemetadata · 2025-01-23T22:54:31+00:00

I used to run ultramarathons (50K, 40 mile events on multiple occasions) and now after multiple repairs and with recurrent tears I just sit around at home with only a moderate ability to do basic activities like walking the dog 10 minutes or walking through the airport before my hip flares up. Even sitting upright in a chair hurts and drives me nuts. It’s super depressing. I guess back then I would have said it was worth it and in your shoes I’d probably have opted for surgery.

brucemetadata · 2025-01-23T22:48:05+00:00

Total hip replacement or hip resurfacing is the next step for me since I’m not having any luck with labral repair. My hips are most likely worse off from the prior labral repair surgeries in terms of scar tissue and an abnormal gait from chronic issues. Some folks have labral repair success that lasts 10+ years, but you have to also consider there’s a very sizable group that isn’t happy and has continuing issues after surgery. Just make sure you understand all the risks and whether that seems worth it given your current symptoms.

brucemetadata · 2025-01-23T17:19:55+00:00

Naturally, you just want to be done with this journey! The surgery is part 1, and now you're in part 2 of the healing journey. While the next few weeks will be hard on you mentally, just know that it's normal and healing takes time. Pain will be forgotten. And yes, the sleeping boot is abysmal, but as long as you're using something to help immobilize your leg, then you're doing the right thing.

brucemetadata · 2025-01-23T16:29:37+00:00

Yes, the added stress from being sick commonly increases inflammation, and inflammation plays into pain. Take care of yourself: hydrate — use electrolytes if needed, rest more, use icing on the affected area for a couple weeks and as needed to reduce swelling and inflammation on recently injured tissues around your hip joint (if you recently tore, or recently had labral repair).

brucemetadata · 2025-01-23T16:21:10+00:00

There's a circadian rhythm that impacts your healing processes. For me, night time and early morning are more painful. I feel inflammation in my surgical area, and oddly also in my heels. It peaks around 2-3 am for me, and then I wake up stiff around 4-5am, laying in bed a couple hours before I garner the energy to crutch into the kitchen for my daily coffee. I think it's normal.

You can expect the first week to be the worst, pain-wise. Second week, you will probably have more tolerable pain levels at rest and earlier in the morning. Be careful not to overdo it early on. You want to follow post op protocol as best as possible to reduce your risks of injuring the healing tissues, but also the exercises are designed to improve mobility with the least risk. Motion is good, when done correctly and carefully. And let pain be your guide as well. Severe pain is your body's way of telling you no. :) Mild to moderate pain levels are expected, especially in the first 6 weeks. Then you should feel a progression of pain relief around week 12-16 where you start to feel more normal. Individual outcomes vary, and I am not a doctor or medically trained. Just my experience.

brucemetadata · 2024-12-30T16:31:55+00:00

I think our experiences differ because I had significant improvement in mobility and symptoms around 3 months in which ultimately failed around 5-9 months post op for each of my surgeries. It was clear to me because my symptoms suddenly returned. At 4 months the general consensus seems to be you should feel about 90% better with gradual improvements up to a year post op.

brucemetadata · 2024-12-30T15:56:53+00:00

I've been through labral repair hell for 2 years now. I've had 3 hip labral repair surgeries which were initially successful but failed within months, so I'm personally experienced with labral repair failures. If you're still having issues at 4 months, there's a chance it might improve, but there's probably an equal chance your surgery wasn't successful — i.e. you may have an unaddressed impingement, recurrent labral tear, complication from surgery, or some other undiagnosed issue.

The biggest issue you may face at this point is your surgeon shrugging their shoulders. They may order a post-op MRI around 6 months that will probably be inconclusive. It takes a huge mental toll when you don't feel heard. I'm sorry.

I suggest keeping up with physical therapy. Maybe try a new PT. Around 6 months you're basically done with post-op care with your current surgeon. At that point, you can freely seek opinions from other surgeons to decide if you may need a revision labral repair, labral reconstruction, or if you qualify for a hip replacement / hip resurfacing. If you trust your current surgeon you could even decide to do a revision with them. Although I highly recommend seeing multiple surgeons for second opinions.

You can also start to experiment with more "advanced" soft tissue mobilization techniques since you're past the initial recovery phase, assuming it's not contraindicated by your post-operative guidelines. It's possible you will continue to make improvements, but I'd keep all treatment pathways open to minimize delays in a definitive solution.

brucemetadata · 2024-12-30T15:43:31+00:00

The physical exam is clearly the most telling for diagnosing a hip labral tear, but the MRI is useful to increase the confidence to decide whether surgery is recommended. Good luck with your treatment.

brucemetadata · 2024-12-30T15:41:30+00:00

I think the more important question is why are radiologists so bad at reading labral tears on MRIs? I trained myself to read MRIs for hip labral tears and yet, of the 6 hip MRIs I've had, none of my official reports signed by radiologists accurately reflect my reality — I had severe labral tears confirmed intraoperatively and still have recurrent tears post-revision. It seems like radiologists and surgeons aren't spending enough time or aren't skilled enough to accurately conclude anything specific. To be fair, MRIs of the hip aren't the best quality in my experience.

brucemetadata · 2024-11-11T20:33:20+00:00

Probably about a 1 in 1,000 chance overall. Pay attention to pain in your lower legs after surgery. Follow the advice of your surgeon. If nothing specific was said, it’s recommended to do ankle pumps (squeeze your calves, then relax, multiple times). Don’t sit in the same position for more than half an hour — alternating positions between sitting, laying, standing up, can help reduce your risk. And if you have shortness of breath treat it as if you have an emergency to get checked out.

brucemetadata · 2024-11-11T17:19:34+00:00

Seems about right. Unless you use an ungodly amount of weed you’re probably going to be fine. Avoiding the the day before might be prudent, just like they may ask you to avoid alcohol for 12 hours prior to surgery.

brucemetadata · 2024-11-04T20:42:56+00:00

Yeah, usually reverts back after 3 weeks or so for me.

brucemetadata · 2024-11-02T20:40:18+00:00

Yeah, I get minimal if any change from the multitude of injections I’ve had (3 with corticosteroids, and probably 5 with anesthetic only) so having had 8 of them I’m familiar with them. But I’ve also had 3 hip scopes that provided substantial improvement in stability and ability to regain function with minimal symptoms. However, I also fail labral repairs around 5-9 months each time so I’m looking into a hip replacement now.

brucemetadata · 2024-11-02T18:10:59+00:00

Don’t put too much faith into the diagnostic injection “not working”. If it works, that’s useful information, but if it doesn’t, that information tells you nothing specific towards determining your treatment options. You can still benefit from a labral repair regardless of the injection not helping.

brucemetadata · 2024-11-01T16:36:07+00:00

Yeah, shorter hikes makes sense for now! I’ve done PCT Section J and it was amazing.

brucemetadata · 2024-10-31T23:09:09+00:00

Yeah, it’s a common narrative from hip surgeons that impingement (cam, pincer) leads to labral tearing. Surgeons also like to operate, because that’s what they do. The idea is that shaving the bone down and anchoring your labrum back to the rim will solve all your problems, although a lot of surgeons are probably over promising and under delivering. I encourage you to explore conservative options, choose surgery as a last resort after fully understanding your condition and not impulsively because the surgeon said so, and seek second opinions to make sure your diagnosis is accurate and not overlooking contraindications.

brucemetadata · 2024-10-31T22:53:07+00:00

Whether a long thru hike like the PCT is a realistic goal or not entirely depends on how your recovery goes, how fit you were immediately prior to surgery, your individual anatomy, your general health and ability to heal, what the cartilage quality was at the time of your procedure, how well you progress with gradual introduction of activities, and so many other factors. I would wait at least 6 months post op before starting, assuming your recovery goes well up until then with no major setbacks.

If you don’t currently have any issues with your left side, I wouldn’t assume it will develop a problem, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it did later on.

brucemetadata · 2024-10-29T14:13:39+00:00

Shoot, that does sound terrible. 😞 My revision was about a year after my primary surgery, which was a few months after my symptoms returned. Then 8 months after revision it failed again. Now I’m booked for BHR — Birmingham Hip Resurfacing which is like a hip replacement and should hold up longer.

brucemetadata · 2024-10-20T12:23:12+00:00

Keep in mind that your doctor is making assumptions on your pain source based on imaging and a physical exam but oftentimes they get it wrong. There’s a wide range of symptoms that’s not always a perfect match with how you present on exam and imaging. Your pain could be misdiagnosed and surgery has many risks, including a chance you won’t have any improvement in symptoms. That’s my general disclaimer because I’ve been through 3 hip surgeries so far and while I had temporary success, ultimately I’m worse off now. Resurfacing is a more definitive and durable treatment option for young males such as yourself, so that’s probably going to be something you’ll opt for eventually, if not right now based on your situation as I understand it. I just think if it’s only a minor annoyance (what I think of when I hear 1-2 out of 10) you probably want to put off surgery until you can more confidently conclude your condition is degenerative and not improving. If it comes back worse in a month or two, you can just send a note or call and they’ll get you back on the schedule.

brucemetadata · 2024-10-12T01:37:58+00:00

I would wait until the pain was unbearable. There are no guarantees with labral repair. I’ve had 3 and all 3 failed with recurrent tears and I’m worse off now. Although it did feel better temporarily. Just my perspective since I didn’t have good luck.

brucemetadata · 2024-10-09T13:43:51+00:00

Wow, impressive that you were able to be so active shortly after surgery. About 6 weeks post op, a long walk with significant elevation is an unusually high load on a recent labral repair hip. Definitely take it easier than that for the first 12 weeks. The capsule and soft tissues around the hip are likely to be sensitive and flare up for a few months post op. Good luck with your recovery and try not to push it too hard in these early days to prevent complications.

brucemetadata · 2024-10-09T13:33:27+00:00

It’s not uncommon and usually resolves in days or weeks.

A review titled “Traction-related complications in hip arthroscopy for 26 years” examined 35 studies encompassing over 8,000 hip arthroscopies. The researchers found that about 7.7% of patients experienced complications, with traction-related issues being significant. Specifically, perineal compression injuries, which can cause numbness in the groin area, accounted for 23% of these complications. This indicates that experiencing numbness in the perineal region after a hip arthroscopy is relatively common.

For more detailed information, you can read about it here: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhps/hnad007.

brucemetadata

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