Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI) and Acetabular Labral Tear

In May of 2018, on the last day of our Camino de Santiago hike, I developed severe pain in my right hip. I searched the internet for accounts of other long-distance hikers dealing with hip pain; I only found one. I decided I would record my journey with this hip pain. Frankly, writing out what was going on and how I felt about it helped me dissipate some of the pent up energy and frustration I was experiencing. Maybe my experiences will be of interest to another long-distance hiker in the future dealing with the same thing. For the first year, I didn't know exactly what was causing the pain; I didn't get a diagnosis of Pincer FAI until a year later, so, fair warning, I speculated a lot prior to the diagnosis.


About FAI

My Journal:

July 10, 2018: Initial thoughts on hip pain

July 20, 2018: Hip pain update

August 10, 2018: Trying to start physical therapy

August 29, 2018: Starting Physical Therapy!

September 25, 2018: Physical Therapy update

October 18, 2018: Physical Therapy update

November 13, 2018: Last day of physical therapy

November 23, 2018: Progress update #1

December 3, 2018: Progress update #2

December 10, 2018: Progress update #3

January 9, 2019: Hip pain is back :-(

February 21, 2019: Primary Care appointment, order for an MRI

February 26, 2019: Pre-authorization for MRI

March 7, 2019: Scheduling the MRI

March 22, 2019: MRI of the hip and results!

April 19, 2019: Run-around getting a Sports Medicine ortho doctor referral

May 2, 2019: Appointment with the Sports Medicine Ortho MD (Finally a diagnosis!)

May 3, 2019: Corticosteroid/Anesthetic injection into the hip joint

May 14, 2019: Scheduling surgery

June 11, 2019: Pre-op appointment with the surgeon

June 24, 2019: Surgery!

June 25, 2019: First post-op physical therapy

July 9, 2019: First post-op appointment with the surgeon

July 15, 2019: Post-op physical therapy (let's try this again)

August 8, 2019: Second post-op appointment with the surgeon

September 24, 2019: Third post-op appointment with the surgeon

December 11, 2019: Fourth post-op appointment with the surgeon

January 9, 2020: Fall and set back

January 30, 2020: Back to see the surgeon

February 12, 2020: Diagnosis and plan

March 13, 2020: Post Cortisone Injection

April 6, 2020: One-month post-injection

June 3, 2020: Three-month post-injection update

July 6, 2020: Hip is improving!

July 22, 2020: Final Surgeon Appointment

August 20, 2020: Back on the PCT!

June 24, 2021: Two years post-surgery