As a child, Kristen Snyder loved to spend her free time rock-climbing, playing basketball and ice skating. But by age 15, a clicking in her hips became severe and she began experiencing tremendous pain in the front and side of her hip. Soon, she was sidelined from her favorite sports.
An MRI didn’t show any signs of problems, so Snyder had no diagnosis. At 18, she moved from Phoenix to San Diego to attend San Diego State University. Soon after her move, her pain increased and her hips started locking up more resulting in periods of immobility. SDSU referred her to Dr. Harish Hosalkar, a renowned Southern California specialist in pediatric, adolescent and adult hip preservation and reconstruction, deformity correction, limb reconstruction, and orthopedic trauma.
Dr. Hosalkar diagnosed a massive labral tear in her left hip. A tear to the labrum causes tremendous pain. In Snyder’s case, her hip socket was extra deep causing pinching of the ball, leading to secondary bump formation on the ball, so that it would no longer fit into the hip socket and causing abutment or impingement in motion.
“The treatment options for management of hip disorders in young patients have been limited,” Dr. Hosalkar said.
“However, the newer minimally invasive techniques for hip joint preservation, have been found to be beneficial in these patients.”
Dr. Hosalkar performed surgery on Snyder at the San Diego Spine & Joint Center at Paradise Valley Hospital in South Bay. Her surgery was a success and Snyder is on the road to recovery.
“Hip preservation helps preserve the natural hip joint for several years or decades and resolves a variety of painful hip conditions,” Dr. Hosalkar said. “Many of my patients, even in extreme symptoms such as Kristen, are able to return to activities that they were unable to do for years.”
