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September 28, 2006
Hip Op (And No, I don't mean Breakdancing)
On the 24th July, I finally sorted out why my left hip was locking up and also why I couldn't walk more than a few hundred yards before the pain made walking unbearable. Below are 3 pictures taken from within my hip joint.
The procedure was carried out in London by one of the only surgeons in the country to carry out Hip Arthroscopy. It was carried out as a day surgery and I was out of hospital about 2-3 hours after the procedure was completed (I was at the hospital at 7am, only to wait until 3pm to go down to theatre, but that's a different story). Afterwards, I was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches, go through the London Underground at rush hour, and catch a train back to my home town and still be home for supper.
The image above shows a piece of cartilage that had been floating around inside the joint. That is probably the reason for my hip locking up as it would get caught up when moved in a certain way.
The hip is dislocated by filling the joint with fluid (some of the bubbles can be seen in the images). By manipulation of the joint with the fluid inside, the hip pops out of its socket by a few millimetres. That gives them enough room to get the camera and tools inside.
The image above shows the damage to the head of the femur. It was so bad that they had to scrape all of the coating away in order to reduce the chance of more debris coming loose and trapping the joint.
Unfortunately, this means that I will have a minimum of 18months before I need to have a hip replacement. There is also some other damage inside the joint that will prevent just having a resurfacing of the joint performed.
Even more unfortunate is the fact that my left hip was the better of the two. I am due to go into the same hospital in October to have the right one done, so god knows what they will find in there.
Posted by Chris Wright at September 28, 2006 5:12 PM
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