Hip Update: More Then One Tear?

I can do this without
a problem

Ok so it’s been a while since I’ve talked about my hip.  I’ve been emailing back and forth with Dr. Hauser’s office, and I think I’ve figured something out.  My current status is that with any external rotation I can flex my hip as much as I want to without a catching sensation.  This is awesome, because external rotation is what is used with squats and whatnot.  Also, this didn’t used to be the case.  It used to be that some hip flexion with external rotation would cause a catching sensation in my hip.  So the fact that this no longer happens is strong, strong evidence that the labrum is healing nicely.  This also explains why I can squat without any kind of noise/catching/clicking from my hip, because those exercises involve external rotation. 

However, if I start to do anything more than mild hip flexion with internal rotation I will get that catching sensation. Every time. Guaranteed.  This might indicate (Dr. Hauser needs to check this out himself in person to be sure) that there is another tear, one that has not been addressed. This actually gives me great hope.

This is about as high as I
can go without fear of
my hip catching.

One thing that I learned through this email discussion is that Dr. Hauser only had the external rotation diagnosis.  The fact that he was only working on the external rotation part gives me a lot of hope because perhaps there is another tear or damage to the labrum that he hasn’t been treating.  This is good news because since I’ve responded so well to the treatment so far, and if there has been another issue unaddressed, then perhaps one day I can move my hip with any rotation I damn well please and not have to worry about aggravating a tear in my labrum.

I have also noticed that the muscles that are painful/tight in the hip are different now.  Or at least, they have stayed tight while others have loosened up some.  It used to be my illiopsoas was piano wire tight, but now it is much more relaxed, and I barely do any massage work on it.  Now I find myself focusing on my hip adductors and maybe some hamstring, like I’m sitting on the lacrosse ball now instead of lying on top of it.  As I think about it those muscles were always tight as well, just not as tight as the psoas (they were the chorus, the psoas was the star).  Now that the psoas doesn’t feel like it has to do all the work anymore and is relaxing, the discomfort from these other muscles tightening is coming to the foreground.  …It would also make sense to me that if the tear/damage is in the internal side of the hip joint the adductors and hamstring would be the ones tightening up to protect it.

I actually have about $750 left in my flex spending account right now.  That will cover one more treatment this year, so my thought is to pay Dr. Hauser a visit during Christmas break, provided I still have that money sitting there, waiting to be spent.  If it’s used up by then no biggie I can wait, but it would be nice to see him sooner than later.

This really has given me hope, that perhaps the end is truly in sight.