Hip Surgery Helping Kids Stay on the Field
Operation used on knees and shoulders can solve youth hip injuries
An operation to repair knees and shoulders is now being used on children's hip injuries.
Children on sports teams are playing harder and longer, which makes them vulnerable to injuries.
Instead of traditional surgery, a less invasive approach used for years on knees and shoulders, is helping hurt hips recover more quickly.
Melissa Mappe, 15, plays on two local soccer teams. But lately she's been sidelined with an injury that now needs surgical repair.
“I was playing a game with my school and I fell on my hip,” Mappe said.
While female soccer players are prone to knee injuries, hips are also getting hurt, said pediatric orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jeremy Frank, who works at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.
“Sometimes it's actually like a twisting injury,” he said.
Hip arthroscopy is now being used on young patients like Mappe to treat tears in the tissue around the hip.
“What we're doing now with hip arthroscopy is making two to three small incisions, putting cameras inside the joint” Frank said.
This allows him a way to repair cartilage damage or tears in the labrum without dislocating the hip joint.
Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital is in the process of developing a Young Adult Hip Center.
“Our goal is that by attacking and tackling the problem early enough, we are preventing the kind of early degenerative changes that can eventually lead to the need for hip replacement,” Frank said.
After surgery, Mappe will need physical therapy, but should be back on the playing field in about three months.
She has no plans to cut back on her soccer schedule.
