Hip Pain

[Sambuka]

I have had severe pain in my left hip for a year now.  I have had the hip joint frozen twice now and the pain totally went away so am sure it is coming from the hip and not back.  The pain is a grabbing pain when I rise from a sitting position or getting in and out of the car and crossing my leg or putting on my shoe or sock is not possible.  It is very uncomfortable to sit for any length of time.  I am only comfortable when I sit with my legs straight out on the couch or in bed.  I am able to walk and stand without too much difficulty.  I have tried the usual treatments, chiropractic, acupuncture, physio with ultra-sound and cortisone shots in the bursa and in the hip joint.  The cortisone shot in the hip joint helped me with sitting but after 7 weeks have found the effects are wearing off. I have had a catscan which showed some back problems but pointed to the hip as the possible cause of pain.  The MRI of my hip showed mild arthritis and  some deterioration of the labrum.  After lots of research I strongly suspect I may have a labral tear.  My problem is I am a 64 year old Canadian and there are only two orthopedic surgeons that do labral repairs and I was told by a Orthopedic surgeon here that it would several years before I could get in to see one of these surgeons and have the required surgery and to forget about it as I was too old anyway.  It was suggested I just leave it until it wreaks my otherwise healthy hip and have a hip replacement.  I am very active and healthy so this was not an option.  I have contacted a hospital in New York City and am going for a consultation and diagnosis in 3 weeks.  If in fact it is a labral tear the cost of the surgeon and hospital are very high.  I plan on submitting this information to our provincial health care plan to see if they will help out with this all or in part since it is not available to me here. Has anyone else from Canada gone to the states for surgery?  Was it approved by your provincial health care plan?  Does anyone else out there have the same symptoms as I am experiencing?  




This discussion is related to Hip pain.

[Dnmh]

Just because the freeze stopped the pain, doesn't always mean that is where the problem is. Back pain tends to travel down and the freeze may have only deadened the nerve to not feel it. I get that kind of pain and I have osteoarthritis in my lumbar region and my physio told me I had a really tight sacroilliac joint. I have a disk bulge between L3/L4 and one at L4/L5 - these are both felt in my hips and upper thigh. The arthritis betwen L5/S1 cause pain closer to my feet. I'm a US citizen so I can't help you there. I would get a second, third or fourth opinion before considering surgery and wouldn't the MRI have picked up the tear? Maybe you could take your MRI films to another doctor as a first step?
Hope you find answers!