July 3, 2010

What is FAI?

Many people, don't understand what FAI is and how hard it can be to try live a normal life when you have it. Many people are missed diagnosed and there are very very very few doctors and physical therapists out there who actually know what it is. I personally saw 12 different orthopedic doctors over the span of 5 years before I was diagnosed. However, my mom eventually discovered Dr. Marc Philippon in Vail, Colorado who is the most incredible surgeon in the world, and it the ONE and ONLY doctor who should ever treat FAI patients. He is truly extraordinary.

FAI is known as Femorolacetabular impingement. It is basically a deformity of the hip. This deformity causes a conflict between the socket and the head and the neck of the femur. Some people are born with a hip joint that is not perfectly smooth or rounded, and instead, there is a slight extra piece of bone, or rigidness to the hip joint. And so, everytime that person kicks, or does a certain activity, exercise, or sport, that hip joint gets in the way of the labrum. The labrum is a piece of cartilage that lines the inside of the hip socket. And so, for example, in my situation, I am a breaststroker, and everytime I was swimming and doing that aggressive whip kick, I was tearing my hip labrum. This is the same for Shae, because she too is a swimmer and has been for several years.

The main problem with diagnosing FAI is that some patients, never get pain in their hip but can instead get pain in their knees, groin, or back. And so, if you go to a doctor who is not prepared to think outside the box, then they may never be capable of diagnosing you with an FAI hip injury. This unfortunately, was the situation that I had, because for most of my injured years, I only had pain in my knees, and so doctors could never diagnose me.


Here is an article about Dr. Philippon and his magic touch with his FAI hip surgeries.
He is truly incredible, and one of a kind.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20100517/NEWS/100519646/0/FRONTPAGE


Here are some pictures to visualize FAI.




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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 11, 2011 at 8:08 AM

    Hello,
    your mother told me about your surgery and i'm impressed!
    I am a "French Physical Therapist" and just opened my office in Aventura. That's why maybe your mother called me. I was specialized with Hip problems in France and your testimony is very interesting for me. I was used to do pre and post op rehab for that special joint.
    Congratulations and if you want to reach me :
    305 384 8435 alain.mounoury56@gmail.com
    Regards

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 23, 2013 at 8:25 PM

    Hi,

    I can see that you are putting a lot of efforts into your blog. Keep posting the good work.Some really helpful information in there. Nice to see your site. Thanks!

    Robert Tomlinson MD

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2015 at 10:05 AM

    hello, I have had this surgery for FAI and labral tear. Brian White MD in denver is also, VERY VERY VERY good. If you do the research, you will also see this. Dr White did an arthroscopy. This can be a difficult surgery if the dr is not "specialized". Im glad you liked dr Phillipon, but I am partial to Dr White.

    ReplyDelete

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