My daughter is 12 and had a labral tear of the hip three years in the past from a gymnastic related trauma. She had arthroscopic surgery 1 and 1/2 years ago and she is still experiencing pain. Her orthopedic says her joint is perfect, although her capsule could also be still tight, so we're doing joint mobilization exercises. Her PT says the pain might be most associated to her development spurt. Do you have any recommendations of the right way to live through this painful experience? I am contemplating deep tissue work, topical glucosamine, and/or non-conventional medical options. She is so enthusiastic about dance, and I worry she will likely be so devastated if she cannot experience peace and a pain-free state soon.
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My heart actually goes out to your daughter. She has come through a challenging situation. Her PT may be right on with the growth spurt connection - and - even if that is why she is in more aches now I believe she can start to train and reeducate the muscles around the hip joint to maneuver without pain.
I'm not clear whether she has been in some continuous pain for a year and a half, or if this just recently came on with a growth spurt, however for both situations I would give the same recommendation for her pain.
Let me share a really current experience with a client. I had a girl come to see me who was in significant ache around her left hip. Whenever she stepped down on it she would have shooting ache down her leg. She was strolling with a cane and as she stepped onto the left leg she would tilt way over to the left with her torso as she rapidly limped onto the good' right leg. She was miserable! She did all the precise things, went to an orthopedic surgeon, a neurologist, and physical remedy through the ache administration clinic at Cleveland Clinic. She wasn't getting better and was feeling actually depressed and desperate.
We labored first on my table and then in standing - my instructions to her had been to maneuver slowly and easily only as far as she didn't have pain. When she was standing she had her left foot about 6 - 8 inches in front of her right. She very slowly began to transfer her weight onto the left foot and it took virtually 10 minutes before she could switch her weight to the left foot without pain. (She didn't take full weight on the leg because that would give her pain. It took another 10 minutes to find she could start to lift her right heel off and start to take the load onto her left foot. We stopped and felt successful with that much. We spent another chunk of time working with getting herself from her side to a sitting position without ache as she has to do getting out of bed.
She discovered that there were methods for her to move with good anatomical alignment and not invoke the pain. Her pain pattern had become so ingrained with fear as well as compensatory patterns that muscle tissues had been in spasm and turned off without her realizing it!
Two weeks later she walks into my workplace still with cane in hand however completely upright and without pain! I was so impressed! She was so joyful - and couldn't imagine her ache level had decreased so much in such a short period of time. She nonetheless had ache - particularly when she tried to maneuver too rapidly, however I really feel assured in time that too will go away.
I share this story with you to describe the potential for somatic schooling to repattern movement. I was working together with her much like what a Feldenkrais or other somatic practitioner would. I use a textbook in one of my school classes, Thomas Hanna's Somatics: Reawakening the Mind's Control of Movement, Flexibility and Health. It's a great read - I like to recommend it strongly. You could explore the next websites to find a somatic practitioner in your area.
http://somatics.org/about or http://www.hannasomatics.com/training/index.php or http://www.feldenkrais.com
It is likely to be that every little thing with the structure of the joint has been fixed - and now your daughter must re-pattern her movement from any less than optimal compensation that occurred from the surgery and ache of the labral tear.
As a side note - I've successfully used plain MSM cream that I get from richdistributing.com for reducing irritation and adhesions - and always keep some on hand.
Greatest wishes for a speedy recovery for your daughter!
I'll close with a quote from Thomas Hanna.
"Somatic Workout routines can change how we live our lives, how we consider that our minds and our bodies interrelate, how highly effective we think we are in controlling our lives, and how responsible we ought to be in taking care of our whole being." -Thomas Hanna
