Best Life: Helping hip displasia

DENVER, Colo. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - When you think of hip pain, you usually think of middle-aged adults or older, but children can suffer from this too.

Children are born with “The game is so fast-paced, and that’s what I love about it,” she said., but symptoms don’t often occur until the teen years.

Hip dysplasia affects one in every 600 girls and one in every 3,000 boys.

If left untreated, it can be debilitating and can lead to chronic pain and arthritis later in life.

Shea Stone is at the top of her game.

“The game is so fast-paced and that’s what I love about it,” she said.

She has been perfecting her shots since sixth grade and now her dream of playing lacrosse for the University of Oregon is coming true.

But Shea was almost sidelined when her hip started hurting.

“It was a deep stabbing pain, like in the groin area of my hip. And I could barely put weight on it,” she told Ivanhoe.

Shea was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, which happens when the hip socket doesn’t fully cover the top of the thighbone.

“You have too shallow of a socket where the hip is not as rock solid, stable as it should be,” explained Mike Ellman, MD, Hip Preservation Specialist for Sky Ridge International Center for Hip Preservation.

Shea also suffered from a labral tear where the cartilage is pulled away from the bone. Hip preservation specialists were able to combine two procedures into one. First, arthroscopic surgery addresses soft tissue damage. This minimally invasive technique allows for repair of the labrum and removal of bone spurs causing impingement.

“We go in and we take care of all the stuff from a soft tissue standpoint in the joints,” states Dr. Ellman.

Then, surgeons tackle the misshapen hip socket by cutting and repositioning the hip socket to improve its fit with the thighbone.

“80 to 90% of these patients never get another surgery,” he said.

As for Shea — recovery took six months and now she is back out on the playing field — a true force to be reckoned with.

Hip dysplasia is more common in females. First borns also have a higher risk. Doctors at the Sky Ridge International Center for Hip Preservation have launched the International Hip Preservation program. They are bringing together hip specialists from around the world to collaborate on new research and treatment innovations to help improve the lives of patients dealing with chronic hip pain and problems.

Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.

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