Hello,

I was wondering if anybody has heard of or knows of any GAA players suffering from hip impingement (Femoral Acetabular Impingement). Recently it seems to be a more frequently diagnosised problem among sports players. There was an article about Diarmuid Duggan in the examiner last week and seemingly Conor McManus from Monaghan suffered from it too.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/players-should-not-be-out-of-pocket-184430.html
http://hoganstand.com/Forum/PostPage.aspx?ForumID=50

I'm a 24 year old male who played club football until I was 21. My story is very similar to that of Diarmuid Duggans'. When I was 21, I developed a mild pain/discomfort in my lower back, my left side and left glute. I noticed that I could not cross my left leg properly compared to right. But this wasn't because the muscles were tight, it just would not bend. I believe it is called external rotation. I went to the club physio and was told that I had tight hip flexors and that I needed to stretch and do flexibility exercises, core work and glute training. I did the exercises and took a couple of weeks rest. When I went back training the pain came back straight away. I was told it was a muscle strain but I deep down I knew that it wasn't. I took some more time off but again when I returned the pain came back.

Then I embarked on the worst 3 years of my life. I first went to the blackrock clinic and saw a well know doctor. He ordered an MRI of my back and a bone scan. He also injected my hip and sacroiliac joint. The scans came back all clear. The pain went away from the injections for a few weeks (I had stopped playing football at the time) but as soon as I went back the pain returned. 6 months passed by this stage. The doctor said he didn't know what was wrong and that he could do no more.

So I did noting for 2-3 months to give "it" more time to heal. By researching stuff myself, I thought the problem was with my sacroiliac joint. I went to see a doctor in the Bon secours hospital in Galway. This doctor told me that I probably had a radial tear in my disc and/or a sacroiliac joint problem. He decided to treat me with "prolotherapy" - a treatment to supposedly tighten lax ligaments . So I drove to Galway about 10 times in 6 months to get injections. By this stage over a year and half had gone by. None of this worked.

I had gotten pretty depressed and frustrated by this time. I continued doing whatever I could do by cycling and swimming but was always in pain. I saw a couple of well know physios in dublin and they all told me the same thing that I a tight hip flexors and needed to do glute work. I tried some more exercise programs but was still in awful pain. 2 years passed by this stage. I had gone from being very fit and training with the senior team to doing noting and looking back now extremely depressed and desperate. The pain had also spread into my groin and was painful while sitting and in bed.

lilly6 (Kildare) - Posts: 4 - 26/02/2012 19:33:20    1117953

So I continued working away on my own doing whatever I could but always in pain. Another 6 months went by. I heard about a Doctor in the Santry sports clinic. I went to see him last summer (2011). He assured me that I had a glute tear, where the glute had partially come off the bone. I was delighted that I had a diagnosis and had a PRP injection (to fix muscle tears). I started more physio. But again the pain came back. I went back to see the doctor, had ANOTHER PRP injection but it didn't work. This Doctor told me he could do noting more. I had lost all confidence at this stage and became very depressed.

The same doctor said that I might have a nerve problem and referred me to back surgeon in santry. FINALLY this doctor picked up on the fact that I couldn't cross my leg properly. He ordered a hip arthrogram. It showed that I have a condition called hip impingement and that I need surgey on it. He has refereed me Dr Kevin Mulhall and naturally I'm delighted. I'm due to see him till april but I'm counting down the hours. The pain is pretty bad now.

But after all this, I feel that I have wasted over 3 year of my life. It has cost me 5,000 + and mentally I was in some very dark places. I feel let down by the physios and doctors that I saw who I feel didn't care and just wanted payment. After a few months my club lost interest also once I wasn't available to play or train. I gave everything to the club when I fit. I think that physios should do more to investigate these problems, just because I had no pain directly in my hip joint they didn't investigate my hip as a potential problem.

Anyway Im just looking to see if anyone has had a similar problem and what there experiences were with hip impingement?

lilly6 (Kildare) - Posts: 4 - 26/02/2012 21:01:37    1118032

Any players or ex players out there with Achilles Heel problems. What are the solutions?

Auldfella (Meath) - Posts: 472 - 27/02/2012 10:52:15    1118194

Tore my achilles in December 2009 and haven't played since. Had surgery on it in march 2010 and physio for the rest of the year but it never fully recovered. This was in no small part due to the fact that it was first mis-diagnosed as a " bad strain" by my GP. It was February before he sent me foe a scan as the "strain wasn't healing, the scan showed it was 99% torn (there were a few fibre's still hanging on!). It was in fair bad shape by the time the surgeon got his hands on it. Unfortunately I know all about those dark places, I'm only 22 and I've missed two years (including a Junior All-Ireland Final at Croker in February 2010 which was heartbreaking) and it may never recover. I'm soon to see another specialist to see if anything can be done but I'm not getting my hopes up. I've stopped going to my clubs games as I can't bear watching anymore and I've lost touch with a lot of clubmates as a result.

killer_88_ (Mayo) - Posts: 2040 - 27/02/2012 11:18:03    1118206

Hey,

Sorry to hear about your Achilles injury. There is noting worse than being misdiagnosed especially if it is blatantly obvious. Long term injuries are tough to handle. I suggest that you get it looked at by a proper consultant. From my experiences, you want things done right the first time so it is definitely worth while only going to see the best doctor with a good reputation. Don't go and see an ordinary "sports injury consultant", its just not worth the hassle. If your from Mayo you might not of heard o/ been to the Santry Sports Clinic. I'd recommend going to see Eanna Falvey as a starting point. He is the doctor for the Irish rugby team so he is bound to have seen plenty of achilles injuries. Then he will refer you to a good surgeon if needs be. The set up there is great.

Good luck!

lilly6 (Kildare) - Posts: 4 - 27/02/2012 17:44:21    1118537

Cheers for the advice buddy, will look into it.

killer_88_ (Mayo) - Posts: 2040 - 27/02/2012 18:27:44    1118558

Neighbour of ours tore his hip flexor pretty bad and after giving it time to heal went back again twice and tore it again twice from memory. Was then told to get a deep tissue scan - step up from an MRI that cost a few quid but it showed up that a lot of his cartilage had been worn away in the hip joint and needed an operation - does that sound familiar?

Anyway, he was told to get the op done through a guy called Dr Richard Villar in the UK who also operated on Roy Keane and was back playing within 3 months. 3 or 4 Monaghan players also got the same treatment done are were brand new in no time. Worth checking him out.

GerryD (Monaghan) - Posts: 338 - 27/02/2012 22:02:42    1118790

A lot of Physios I know are very cautious to always be suspicious of the hip in footballers because of the repeated force that goes through the supporting leg during kicking. One of them picked up limited hip internal rotation on me and told me to watch it as it could be early hip impingement, luckily it seems to loosen up a bit if I stretch piriformis.

Sounds like you were very unfortunate. Can I ask, is it your non-dominant leg? i.e. the on you kick off least.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 03/03/2012 17:56:53    1121795

Hi,

Yes your right, it is my non dominate leg, my left leg. A couple of years prior to it me stooping football altogether, the club physio told me a number of times when I was getting treatment on minor muscle injuries (i.e hamstring, glutes etc) that my left hip was " a bit stiff" and that this inflexibility could be causing the minor muscle strains that I was getting every couple of weeks . As it was not bothering me I didn't think much of it and continued as I was going and just did a few extra stretches. Now when I think back, they were the early warning signs.

I think only recently both doctors and physios are paying a lot more attention to hip impingement.

You said "internal rotation". I think my catches on external rotation. I would find it difficult to cross my legs (like a man) by placing my left ankle on my right knee.

At least you have the heads up. I would keep an eye on it.....I'm waiting for surgery in 8 weeks time

lilly6 (Kildare) - Posts: 4 - 06/03/2012 17:55:46    1123990

hi lilly6,
i wanna thankyou for putting up this thread as it has made me aware of a problem that i have had for years,
im 26 and have been playin senior football since i was 16years old, i played county minors and under 21s.
But i always had problems with my hamstrings and back, i have lost count the number of times that i have been at a physio over the years with the problems.
wat i did notice was that my flexibility was always good in my hamstrings so could never understand why i always pulled them.
i always knew tho that i had a stiffness problem with my left hip i couldnt cross it like my right leg and also like you sitting with my ankle on my tight/knee (man like) was impossible without the help of my arms pulling my leg up. But my hip never gave me pain so i never thought to look into it further.

now over this last number of years iv put on a good bit of weight about 2stone and around last october i decieded to do some thing about it so i upped my training and started doing alot of circuit training (squats, lunges, burpees) but when i got back to running with the football team i started to get a dull pain in my groin out of nowwhere, but it was bearable so i never got it checked then i seen this thread and googled hip inpingement and i have all the symptons of it. i continued to play on with the team but the groin got worse every time i played so i went to a physio and he told me i had strained the groin.

i asked him about FAI he done a test and said my internal movement was fine and to play on that pain would go away, a few days later i went to another physio as the pain was still as bad again i asked him about FAI and again he done test said my internal rotation was fine he told me to rest one week and see how things went, after a week the groin settled but 2 training sessions later the pain returned and even movemnts like getting out of bed was painful.
So again i stopped training by now i had pain in the back and also my knee so i went to a different physio and again i asked about FAI this time he said yes that hip is very stiff, he worked on it and tried to move it (external rotation) still bad movement, he then asked me to get xray done and maybe mr arthrogram if necessary.

i get the results of xray tomorro.,
i have googled FAI and most of the problems seem to be internal rotation! you seem to have same problem as myself,
what was the main reason behind the stiffness and what operation do you need done?

frankjones (Down) - Posts: 33 - 05/04/2012 18:56:30    1144584

lilly6
County: Kildare
Posts: 4

That is heartbreaking stuff, I look at senior players and I find the sacrifices these young people make is frightening at times. I am of course delighted you seem to have cracked the problem but I can't help thinking you won't be going back to play GAA and I can understand that if you don't. I find the hocus-pucus pseudo medical industry built around sports industry as mostly bogus anyway. That is just based on my personal experience as player and mentor. I was looking at one Feile team and six are "out" undergoing medical treatment for all manner of problems, injuries seem to be as contagious as bubonic plague.

As with lily6 sure the most horrendous aspect of his tale of woe is that none of these so called professionals actually listened to the patient.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4954 - 06/04/2012 18:03:52    1145146

hi lilly6, how did your operation go? was it worth it?

frankjones (Down) - Posts: 33 - 29/05/2012 15:45:38    1182934

I've had great experience from using a chiropractor to sort out all sorts of injury problems and have me functioning at a level that gives me a definite edge over other players. I'd previously had several operations with no success but many years on the sidelines. I'd recommend surgery as a last resort rather than first call of action, look at what else is possible first. My chiropractor is Dr Tammy Verlaan in Rathfarnham, Dublin, she's a Chiropractic Assocation of Ireland member which is important as it means she has the necessary qualifications and ongoing training. She's very experienced with sports injuries and has worked with all sorts of athletes including Olympians and Irish national teams.

hop and solo (None) - Posts: 107 - 01/06/2012 14:11:09    1185230

I've just been diagnosed with this condition, but they reckon I've caught it early. I was going in for treatment of a groin strain, and got a bit of a fright!

By doing my core exercises and building flexibility in the area, the physio is very confident that I'll be safe to return in 6-8 weeks. If I left it untreated, I could be looking at surgery in a years time.

My advice is to have your joints looked over. Work on your core, and look at pilates as a proactive way to avoid this sort of injury.

ringo (Wexford) - Posts: 384 - 23/05/2013 10:00:56    1389471