UKC

My ever expanding injury ticklist now includes one of these buggers, although the cause hasn't be confirmed yet.
Might be loose cartilage, bone growth after a fall, or something I've always had but has only just been picked up on.

Anyone had any experience with this injury/condition?
I've been referred by the doc, going to be at least a month until response, with view for surgery if needed. But I'm bloody bored and could do with climbing and/or some training as two months if NHS limbo has me getting fat and weaker!

In reply to Steve nevers:

Is this a cam lesion in your hip? Orthopedics specialists will likely pick this up in about 20 seconds of examination.

I had surgery on one side and I'm waiting for the other. There is a non-surgical route for treatment that you may want to discus with them. The only other (non-surgical) thing that has a proven track record of alleviating this problem is pilates (they think that hip impingement is a combination of a conformation and a movement problem). With the benefit of my experience, if I were you I would:

1) Sign up for a couple of pilates classes per week. Try some different teachers, classes vary from very tough matt work sessions to lying on the floor waving your arms in the air. Small group sessions with a physio can be good. It'll give you the workout that you miss from climbing and won't do you any harm - a strong core is always good.

2) Find a physio that is familiar with the condition and get their opinion. In my experience working on the weak glutes and TVA that are associated with this condition can really help improve the daily discomfort and reduce the clicking and clunking. Any physio should be able to asses the strength of your legs and provide exercises to remedy any weakness though.

Its worth reading about the work that Southampton football club did in this area - introducing pilates type work into their warm-up drills apparently eliminated a big problem with hip impingement. Note also that surgery route will commonly hurt, and hurt for a long time afterwards

Finally - never leave anything with the NHS for more than a week without stiring the pot. If the GP referral is heading across to them then ring up and make sure they got it, if they say they got it then ring up a week later and find out what is happening, they are very good at what they do but as with any large organisation the parasite of bureaucracy can really slow things down.

Hope that helps.

In reply to petellis:

Thanks.
The lesion is in my left hip.its suspected to be related to a 6.5m deck out i had last year. Wasn't MRI scanned at the time and one speculation is minor fracture has grown back abnormally.

Unfortunately I also have a small hernia in the area that's suspected to be related to the floor chasing me as well!

In reply to Steve nevers:


Your profile says you are 35! Hi-balling is a kids game, stop it!


Any sign of labral tear or chondrial thinning? The thing that steered me towards the surgical route was the long-term prognosis as a patient with large labral tear and lack of joint lubrication combined with some early evidence of the chondral surface thinning. I was already on a road that leads to arthritis, combined with a strong family history of hip-osetoarthritis. I've taken a calculated risk that repairing the labrum and removing the impingement will prolong the joint life but ultimately they don't have enough historical statistics to confirm or deny that this is the case

The opinion of both the surgeon and physio lead specialist that I talked to was that it depends on the performance required from the joint, suggesting that physio would likely work for less active lifestyles but not for more intense use.

I also know someone who was diagnosed with labral tear and impingement, got referred for surgery but cancelled it after they took up pilates, that was about 12 years ago apparently, that person is also very physically active but fine. I know some others who simply manage it with physio.

However, as I said above they just don't have the data. I was pretty exhaustive in my search for answers!


Interesting - I have suspected hernia on one side that I think might be related to the impingement. Symptoms of that cleared up when i started some physio/pilates.

If its really an impact injury and you don't have the wear and tear symptoms then you could well be climbing a month or so after surgery.

Stay positive, keep the pressure on in your search for answers and don't get depressed, I'm sure you can get it fixed!

In reply to petellis:

Wasn't highballing! Trad bit me in the ass!

Currently i have sod all info from the docs.
GP has taken 9-10 weeks already to get to this stage, looking at another 4-5 weeks before i even get to speak to a specialist.

Had no insight on if i can even work or climb even yet, so have been doing light boulders once a week just to stop going mad, although that isn't really working!

I guess i shouldn't be climbing at all then?

Tbh, I'm already depressed as hell as the current situation has been ongoing for 2.5 months just to get to this point, and the past 6 months since the fall has been no fun either.

Very grateful for your input, you've explained more to me in two posts than the hospital has told me in 6 months!

Would you say i should be covered by sicknote with this? I'm financially on my arse already without spending the rest of the year in NHS limbo.

In reply to Steve nevers:

What are your symptoms? You seem to be suggesting its so bad you aren't working? Is pain waking you up at night (this one is important)?

A sick-note would surely depend on whether you were fit to work. If you can't work then you definitely need one.

Funny how injury seems to very quickly make us depressed, try to take a more proactive approach with your GP (if you can't work then you need to be going and telling them very clearly). Seriously - get on the phone and check they have your referral*. If they haven't - hassle your GP. If they have - ask them about typical dates. Could you bee seen faster at another centre?

*At one point I got caught between a GP that said they had referred me and an orthopedics department that said the GP hadn't, that took a couple of weeks of daily phone calls to get it sorted (we were hung up on a technicality caused by a doctor not quite realising the nature of the accounting procedure 6 months before). You've got to be nice but persistent every time.

In reply to petellis:
Am a bit confused symptoms-wise, as the cam lesion has only just been identified after one GP declared my MRI as fine, but managed to forgot to contact me about this opinion.
Than after calling the practice to inquire my actual GP re-examined the scan and spotted the lesion.
He's straight out told me he knows sod all about the condition, and he'd already referred me on. Also told me he's unsure about what I'm fine to do in my current state due to not being familiar with it.

Am experiencing varying pain, so days it's almost totally fine, others it feels like it's almost levering out on the groin side.
I had previously but the pain at the top of my abdominal-V down to the hernia, but seems it's more related to the cam-lesion.
The pain hasn't woken me up at night yet.

Works mainly roofing, moving heavy things around at heights with a stone mason and the odd bit of building beds out of green oak.
None of which I'm currently capable of without being on me arse for a few days afterwards, it's mainly the load bearing work that does me in, but it's a large part of each job.

I'm mainly done in as i cant work or climb! Cancelled a trip recently due to lack of information about me wonky hip!

In reply to Steve nevers:

That sounds like a tough situation, you need a diagnosis or you can't get treatment. Completely different presentation and onset to me so I can't comment. Mine was very slow gradual onset over a couple of years wheras you seem to have trauma.

Can you go back to the GP and explain about not being able to work some days? Surely a radiologist looked at your report.

In reply to petellis:

I've been handed on to a specialist now, well, say now, it's more I'm expecting to hear in roughly a month.

I think it's more of a case I've been handed around so many practices and department already the arse isn't talking to the elbow and there's been confusion on their side(s).

Think I'll chase the GP up and see if he's sent anything off yet and ask which way I'm meant to be facing. Had next to no information as yet, which is the main annoyance tbh!

In reply to Steve nevers:

I'm sorry about your injury, but this thread has been an education. My cam lesions have usually been on my knuckles!