Thanks to everyone who has written back.

Fancyshorts, congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I'm sure it must be hard with the surgery coming up too... good luck :O)

I, too, have been trying to keep off of it. Just walking around the city for the day equated to icing it all night in pain. I tried aqua jogging, too! But same result. Rollerblading is actually an interesting idea, I might try it depending on the MR arthrogram results.

I HATE not being active. I really think I get anxiety, haha. Lots of optimistic thinking (e.g., "one day this will all be a memory-hopefully), reading, and movies have kept me occupied for now. I have a hard time sitting still, so my agenda consists of trying to sit still, going crazy not being outdoors/exercising, then deciding that I've "had enough" and going out until I can barely walk, and repeating the cycle.

Jocko- thanks for your story!
Kristina- how are you feeling now?

Please keep me updated as to how everything is going!

-JerseyGirl

It has been about 2 weeks since my surgery and I'm doing pretty good. I had my post-op the other day and had to travel to see my doctor from out of town. It was a long day and I'm in some discomfort right now. The doctor wants me to try to go down to one crutch this week and the get rid of them altogether the following week. I'm going to start some water therapy this week.

elipical is ok? i was doing elipital a few months ago, but i thought it was still caused aggravation. also my pt told me when doing the abs try to engage the hamstrings, because that alleviates the work that the hip muscles have to do. my surgery is aug 17, but im trying to find another surgeon so i can get it sooner. my xc season starts at the end of aug!!

I had a debridement because my tear was too large to repair. I also had osteochondroplasty pincer which is on the capsule. He released the psoas and did a synovectomy. I had fair amount of inflamation but my cartilage looks good and I don't have any arthritis. I'm probably more conservative than most with my rehab. I just don't want anything to go wrong. I want to be able to race again. I'm not in a rush to get back. It will take at least 3 month (probably more) which means that I'll be out of shape. I'm using the CPM for 3 hours a day and I bike for 20min. Right now I'm doing 7 different exercises to strengthen the muscles around the hip and to get some range of motion back. From what I've read on the Internet, it doesn't sound like an easy comeback and many people appear to have setbacks.

Hi Kristina
I was told I would have that continuous passive motion machine as well--and I was fitted with a brace that I will be wearing post surgery. Did you have a brace?! And how long before you were driving? It worries me a bit that he told you that he saw no evidence of arthritis-I have been warned that I will need a hip replacement eventual because you can't reverse the arthritic changes! Is there anyone else out there who was told they had a torn labrum as well as FAI(femoral acetabular impingement) brought on by the arthritic changes?! I have extra bone on the head of my femur that he will be shaving down. The extra bone growth is apparently how my body has tried to cope with the arthritic degeneration! My God, you would think I was an old lady-I'm only 42! Keep me posted, Kristina on your rehab. Sue

Hi again everyone!

I can't tell you how great it is to hear from people who are going through the same (or similar) experience as me.

Background info on me again: age 19, dislocated/fractured my hip July 2006, still in pain after months of laying off it/physical therapy, x-rays and MRI say no avascular necrosis & bone is OK

New update:
I got an MR arthrogram last Thursday (i.e. an MRI but then inject a radiopaque substance into the hip to expand the joint and create contrast to see everything better). WARNING to everyone who gets this: plan on being in a LOT of pain & plan on not doing ANYTHING other than laying in bed with ice and walking with a LOT of stiffness. Not to scare anyone :O). The procedure wasn't TOO bad, I just had no idea that when the numbing agents wore off it would be so painful- probably the most pain I've had since last year, joint-wise.

Results from report: degeneration of the labrum (not a frank tear, but the specialist says there is probably a lot of abnormality) and a paralabral cyst (most likely from the tear, as I've read online). Arthroscopy will be necessary at some point in the future.

I am a student and don't want to ruin my summer again by having to lay around on the couch, so I think I might wait till winter break in December to have surgery.

Got my first corticosteriod shot yesterday to see if it helps-- still in a pretty good amount of pain today. Anyone have experience with these shots? How long do they take to work? How much pain relief does it bring and for how long?

aj- abs hurt me a lot, too. I might take marathon's advice and use a ball more often. Gosh, I feel like my hip is always an excuse to not work out! Everyone is like, "Well, you can do arms and abs and other things, can't you?" And sometimes I can, but most of the time I'm just hurting so bad afterwards that I don't want to do it again. Or get super strong arms while my legs aren't doing much. Blahhhh

marathon- thanks for the advice! I'll definitely going to try the elliptical. I think it's great that you're trying to get in as good a shape as possible before surgery. Good luck! Make sure you get a good orthopedic surgeon since there aren't many of specialize in the hip (since hip arthroscopies are considered relatively new within the last decade). I lucked out- the specialist I'm seeing has great credentials and even worked at the prestigious sports medicine facility, Steadman-Hawkins, in Colorado (I think it was mentioned several times in this forum).

kristina- glad to hear you're recovering well. Are you taking painkillers/NSAIDs/etc? It is what you expected? Stay strong!

Thank you so much for writing all! Keep well!

Jerseygirl

Runnersk8ter,
Sorry to hear about your achilles/hip. I would definitely be concerned about the overcompensation for your hip affecting other areas of your body, and vice versa. I've been reading a lot online about labral tears, and I feel like the bottom like is that it never heals on it's own. Pain minimization is the most you can do. I'm in the position where I have to decide whether to get surgery or not, and the more I read, the more I think I just want to get it done and over with. We'll see. Hope that helps.

Everyone:

I have found that the following forum to be more active than this one.
http://forums.runnersworld.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/678106477/m/256107577/p/16[/URL" target="_blank">
if you're interested!

Other information resources:
http://uconnsportsmed.uchc.edu/patientinfo/whathurts/hip/index.html[/URL" target="_blank">
http://www.csmc.edu/460.html[/URL" target="_blank">

Good luck!
JerseyGirl