It's been such a long journey

If this really does work, and in six weeks time I'm pain free, or at least a heck of a lot better, I know there will be a part of me that will regret not getting this sooner.  But then I have to remind myself that I did try to get this done, over two years ago when I met with Dr. Wagner who was a supposed "expert".  And then I get angry.  The man just looks at an MRI and figures if he doesn't see it then it can't possibly be there.  I mean, who cares that my hip still clicks even though everything is in alignment.  Who cares that you can feel the joint move around.  Who cares that another doctor diagnosed a torn labrum without an MRI.  Because it certainly wasn't Dr. Wagner. He just looked at a picture and figured he couldn't do anything to help me, and I couldn't do anything, literally (except for swimming and yoga).  If he would actually look at the whole patient, then maybe I would already be fine.  Maybe I wouldn't have to worry about fixing my hip versus getting ready for our first dance at our wedding.

But then I think about it a little more, and if Dr. Wagner had treated the labrum, I wouldn't have discovered I have tight hip capsules, which in turn led me to massage, which seems to have healed my FAI.  If I had repaired the labrum without treating the FAI, that impingement would still be there, and would possibly tear the labrum again.  There are people out there who get surgery or PRP treatments and yet still have pain.  I think that's because even though the underlying issue (joint instability) is fixed the muscles have become so patternized that they will remain tight even though they don't need to be (being tight is all they know), and it is the tight muscle that is causing the pain.

So, in fact, I just have to accept that this is what the universe has presented to me, and I take solace in the fact that I have kept searching, learning about my hip and what might be the issues at hand.  I have not resigned myself to a life of pain and/or inactivity.  In life there is always a choice, and I choose to be better today then I was yesterday.  Whether that be stronger, faster, smarter, wiser, or some combination of all the above, I try to make the most out of each day because that's a day I'll never get back.

Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to taking on the day.

Getting excited for the treatment

As painful as this is going to be, I am starting to get excited about this.  I feel even better about trying this before getting surgery, because I've realised that if this works I will have a healed up labrum.  Not a labrum that's been stitched together, or one that has had peices removed, but a healed labrum that is whole and working as it should be.  And as one article points out, when you have surgery to remove peices, you're probably not really helping with anything.

Also, I think my psoas an illium are so tight because of looseness in my hip.  That could be directly caused by my torn labrum, but perhaps not.  If not, then this prolotherapy should help with that instability and allow my muscles to relax.  This could be a really good thing!

Has my FAI gone away???

The fact that Dr. Hauser couldn't detect any impingement has really got me thinking, is it actually gone?  I really need to check with the results from the MRI I had a couple of months ago to see if my cam and pincer impingements are gone.  If this is the case, then I'm proof positive of the importance of mobility work.  I always wondered if the extra bone growth would go away on its own.  I mean, it's no longer needed because the femur is no longer banging into the hip socket, so it could go away.  On the other hand, it would seem odd that the extra bone would realize it's no longer needed and would go away.

...I will call the doctor's office later today and see if they could help me out on this one, since I don't have the images for myself.

Met with Dr. Hauser

The meeting was... interesting, to say the least.  He did a few, quick tests and felt that I really didn't have an impingement of the hip (this would kind of make sense since I've been working on my stretching my hip capsules for almost two years to the day now.), but he definitely felt some instability in the hip joint as well as that laberal tear.  This is almost completely opposite of what the PRP Dr Wager diagnosed like two years ago (no laberal tear, but FAI). Perhaps all the stretching and stuff has made the impingement a non-issue, that would definitely be ideal as well as the hope of getting all those massages. 

He told me that he felt he could help, and if I wanted to he could do a procedure in like 30 minutes.  ...He gave me the option of taking some painkillers before the procedure, as I will get poked by a needle 30+ times.  That is a ridiculous amount of needle, so I felt I would be best served by some vicodin.  However, I have a lot of work to do, and I can't really afford to take today off so instead I scheduled an appointemnt for the 23rd.

There is one thing that really, really bummed me out though, and that's the recovery.  One of the main reasons why I wanted to try prolotherapy before surgery was because of the recovery.  In the clip of Dr. Hauser getting an injection of stem cells (the stem cells come from the marrow in his own tibia) for treating his knee he talks about how he was running three days later.  Well, appearently with a labral tear I would have to be inactive to let the labrum knit together.  I can swim and walk,but anything that causes my hip to snap would be bad (so no more than 20 degree movement), and I wouldn't be able to do any external rotation as well.  ...That last part may mean I might have to hold off on dance lessons (have been learning how to dance with Kristin in preperation for our wedding). 

It's that last part that kills me.  I've really been enjoying dancing with Kristin, and that I would have to hold off on dancing for like eight weeks is sad news.  The recovery time for prolo is almost the same as surgery, so it makes the idea of prolo less appealing.  However, I know that surgery is not always the answer, in various forums there are people who are months post-op and are still expereincing pain just walking.

So I think I've decided to try at least one prolo treatment, but I swear I'm not as near as excited about this as I was when I thought I could immediately get back into squatting and stuff.

I will keep posting about this, as well as some other things.  I apologize for the lack of posts, but since I've become more inactive there hasn't been too much to write about.

Happy belated Thanksgiving

Went back home to dallas for the holidays, and I couldn't play tag with my neices and nephews because I couldn't run without pain.

I cannot wait for this pain to end.

I meet with the prolotherapist on the 12th, here's to hoping that he will actually be able to help me out.

Another possible diagnosis, and possible PRP treatment

So I've kept researching what could be causing this pain, and there is a very similar injury to Athletic pubalgia (aka sports hernia), and that is an injury to the pubic symphysis.  The pubic symphysis is a cartilige joint, and it has some ligaments keeping it in place, and according to wikipedia:

Two such ligaments are the superior and inferior, these being the ligaments that provide the most stability... The strong and thicker superior ligament is reinforced by the tendons of the rectus abdominis... and thigh adductors muscles.

So I'm thinking when I pulled my groin (aka thigh adductor) I might have aslo damaged the ligament up in there as well.  It definitely feels like a precise pain in the pubic area, so this is a possibility, although it could be "just" a sports hernia.  If it is damage to superior ligament in the pubic symphysis then prolotherapy should prove to be really helpful.  If it's a sports hernia then perhaps not so much.  Either way, I think Dr. Hauser will be able to figure out if it is either.

Even though I have been very inactive this past two weeks, when I saw my massage therapist my psoas was once again "insanely tight".  We talked about why this could be when I've rested for the past two weeks and the only conclusion we could come up with is that there must be some type of soft tissue damage that the psoas is compensating for.

I feel like I am so God Damn close to figuring out this hip pain once and for all that I'm experiencing all kinds of emotions.  I've been dealing with my hip for years now, and the idea that I could finally figure the underlying reason for pain is honestly an idea that I'm a little scared to believe.  I want to hope for this, but I've been burned already and it makes me hesitant.  But it makes sense that I have some type of soft tissue damage in my hip, and that this is why I still experience hip pain.

If there is damage to the Pubic symphysis I am not going to look forward to the prolotherapy treatment,  I've seen this video of the treatment and the idea of getting like 7 injections right above my junk is not my idea of a good time.  However, this should tell you how much I'm ready for this pain to be gone.

I'm hoping the symphysis is the only issue, but if there is something else going on I surely hope Dr. Hauser can figure it out. 

Def seems to be a Sports hernia

[UPDATE:  turns out it wasn't a sports hernia, just a really really tight pectineus that was trying to protect the instability in my hip caused by the tear in the labrum]
Ok so the more I look up stuff on sports hernias the more I am convinced that I have one.  Sports hernias are different than regular hernias.  In fact, they are very different injuries.  A sports hernia is tissue (including muscle) ripped off the pubic bone.  While I have tried to be conservative with my activity, I still find myself pushing through the pain to get the exercise done.  I've been doing some crossfit, subbing out exercises that hurt for ones that don't (rowing instead of running, etc).  Thing is, seems like there are more and more exercises that are starting to hurt so I'm going to take some time off and just do swimming (if I can) or something while I figure this out. I did start to feel better when I rested it, so back to rest I go.

As weird as this sounds, I think this could be a blessing. To be honest I'm starting to think I may have had a sports hernia to begin with.  I figured out the pain in my hip was from too tight muscles, which caused the FAI and torn labrum.  So once I got my hips to loosen up, the pain abated to a level that I could easily handle doing anything (scale of 1 to 10, 2 at most).  Thing is, my psoas kept tightening up causing pain so I keep having to go to get a massage.  Both my massage therapist and I are a little confused as to wonder why my psoas keeps tightening up.  I had figured out one level of why I had hip pain (tight muscles) but couldn't figure out the underlying reason why certain muscles were tightening up so much and so quickly.  ...A sports hernia could be the reason, a little muscle tear around the pubic bone could definitely cause contraction/tightening in the psoas.  And when I competed in the Oly lift competition and C+J'd 220 (when I also pulled my groin) I might have exacerbated the problem, causing more damage.  So perhaps this is a good thing, perhaps I will have finally figured out the underlying cause for my hip pain and be able to address it and move forward.

I plan on seeing a prolotherapist here in Chicago (Dr. Hauser), one who seems to have a good reputation from the reviews I've found so far (he also has a lot of youtube clips out there).  He claims that prolotherapy can help with torn labrums and sports hernias, and his website talking about why it works seems legit, so I think I'll give it a go, although I'm skeptical.  If that doesn't work, then I will probably have to have surgery.  It's damage to soft tissue, so as far as I understand it that type of injury doesn't repair itself.  I just may need an outpatient procedure where they get me with one or two staples and I'll be 100% in like a month.  Thing is, the staples have to be in the right place and so it will require a doctor that knows what he's doing, and I have yet to find a specialist.

One of the owners of crossfit rise had a sports hernia, and he elected not to have surgery, but it took him a year to recover.  So I'm really not sure what to do, although I don't really think I have the patience to wait it out for a year.

Really hope I can beat this thing.