Regenerative Medicine: Re-Growing Body Parts
MAKOplasty Robotic Knee Surgery
Menaflex.flv
MI Surgery…Return to Play!
If you were once a star running back, you could get there again, say researchers from Rush University Medical Center. This team has determined that using minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery to treat hip disorders may give athletes who undergo the procedure another opportunity to resume their sport at their pre-injury level of competition.
The Rush group found that 78% of athletes suffering from hip labral tear caused by internal ball and socket joint damage to the hip (known as hip femoroacetabular impingement (FAI)) were able to return to their sport within an average of a little more than nine months following a hip arthroscopy. Also, 90% of the athletes were capable of competing at the same level as they had prior to their initial hip impairment.
“Arthroscopic hip surgery is an outpatient procedure that can decrease soft tissue trauma and decrease blood loss, leading to a faster recovery period compared to a more invasive open surgery,” said study lead investigator Dr. Shane J. Nho, in the news release. Dr. Nho is a sports medicine and hip arthroscopy expert at Rush University Medical Center. She also is an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery and co-head of the Hip Study Group at Rush University.
Forty-seven high-level, college and professional as well as high school varsity athletes in a wide range of sports were included in the study. All patients underwent arthroscopic surgery and were tracked for an average of 16 months.
All patients involved were diagnosed with femoroacetabular impingement, a condition that occurs when the femoral head of the thigh bone rubs abnormally against the acetabulum, or cup-like socket of the hip joint. This rubbing results in damage to the rim of the hip socket as well as the cartilage that covers the hip bones.
When asked what the team was surprised to learn, Dr. Nho told OTW,
The outcomes were not surprising. Patient clinical outcomes have demonstrated more predictable results with improved patient selection, surgical technique, and post-operative rehabilitation. Most importantly, our understanding of hip FAI has grown tremendously over the past several years, but there is much more that still needs to be learned.
Dr. Nho also commented to OTW,
We will continue to track our clinical outcomes in athletic and non-athletic patient populations, but the real question will be the long-term ability for hip arthroscopy to delay the progression of hip osteoarthritis. We are also planning to study the gait patterns in patients before and after hip arthroscopy for FAI.