Meet Erin.
After surgery for hip dysplasia.
Erin came to Physical Therapy of Boulder two weeks after having two surgeries on her hip to address her hip dysplasia—because of issues that had occurred during infancy, her hip socket didn’t fully cover the ball of her hip.
This caused her instability, groin pain, and severe damage to her labrum throughout her life.
It had finally caused so much pain and injury that surgery could not be avoided.
“Her first surgery was to repair her labrum, the ring of cartilage that surrounds the hip socket. The second addressed the shape of her hip. Her hip socket was cut out of her pelvis, reoriented over the head of her femur so it would fit and pivot properly, and screwed back into place.”
Erin was determined to make a full recovery and return to activities that she loved.
In fact, she was looking forward to making use of the new and improved functionality of her hip! She wanted to get back to climbing, cross country skiing, and biking—but most importantly, being able to take care of her young family.
Initially, we worked on non-weightbearing strengthening exercises for her repaired hip while maintaining the rest of her body’s strength so she would be ready to tackle her activities when her hip caught up to the rest of her.
After several weeks of these exercises, Erin was cleared to begin bearing weight on her leg again, and she began the climb toward functional recovery.
Not only had she improved to the point where she no longer needed to use it, but she reported that her pain was minimal, even after several Before her surgery, she had spent a long time using her muscles to compensate for the issues with her hip. Moving her hip socket made a big difference! She had to retrain and re-educate her muscles to move the way they were supposed to, and it was hard work!
She started out on two crutches, then weaned herself down to one. Finally, she left her last crutch behind!
Soon afterward, she was able to return first to cross-country skiing. Since then, she has added climbing at the gym and outdoors, and mountain biking.
She even returned to her favorite activity of all: playing with her kids!