FAI Experiences

Triathlon Forum
1

So, as the title suggests, I am looking for people who have been diagnosed with Femoroacetabular Impingement (symptomatic or not) and what their experience and treatment has been, and how that has affected their SBR… and to a greater extent their overall lifestyle/quality of life. I have FAI, and until recently, had been asymptomatic. I have had pain on the outside left side (greater trochanter area) of my hip off and on for years. We discovered my FAI or FAI morphology (and a labral tear) in the attempt to diagnose what was causing my hip pain which is most likely a result of glute min, IT band, tightness/muscle imbalance issues, inflammation, bursitis, laundry list, etc… the result of overuse injuries turned chronic. However, I am now starting to get pain in the traditional FAI area and am showing symptoms in the impingement test. I was pretty much crippled a couple of hours after a ride on Friday. There were no signs of pain while riding nor immediately after. It just hit me like a ton of bricks after I had been stationary for a couple of hours and am now limping around pathetically. Also, alarmingly, I have never had hip pain from anything other than running… and rarely over the past few years due to PT, movement prep, and changing my gate so as not to heel strike any longer. As of now, I haven’t developed arthritis and am still relatively young(ish) at 31. Since I am very active and plan on being so for the rest of my life, we are debating moving forward with surgery (after this season, assuming that I can do anything) following the thought process that, with my current level of activity, I will eventually need surgery and by then it might be too late. There are many unknowns at this stage as to whether surgery is an effective solution or not… it seems to work well for some, not at all for others. The bigger issue, though, is that many of the patients are not highly active like the greater population here is and, as such, are a not a good basis for me to make a potentially life changing decision on. Anyway, I’m just looking for any help from those of you who have gone down this road might be able to offer. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Ryan

2

The good news is that your case sounds quite typical for this condition, and surgical intervention has a relatively high rate of success. I had the condition for most of my life (according to my surgeon). I experienced relatively mild, varied symptoms for several years during each of the three disciplines - a mild ache, and sensations of a slight muscle pull in the groin area. Once the acute symptoms set in, I dealt with the condition for roughly nine months. The symptoms were similar to the previous condition, only more debilitating, and distinguished by periodic, deep, sharp pains spanning the deep groin area to the front of the hip.

At the height of the condition, I could run with very little discomfort, but I had difficulty walking up stairs and sitting in certain positions between bouts of activity. I was diagnosed with a gross impingement and a severe labral tear in Nov '11. In May '12, I had both conditions repaired arthroscopically, dedicated about six weeks to physical therapy, slowly added in some very light running and cycling over the next 6-8 weeks, and got back into nearly full activity at around 3.5 months post-op.

Aside from the lifetime of compensation issues that I’m trying to undo, the affected hip has stayed strong, fully functional, and pain free … most of which I attribute to regular strengthening and ART treatments over the 12+ months following my surgery.

3

Thanks for the share. Sounds a lot like me. I’m glad your treatment has worked for you. That’s awesome.

Regards,
Ryan