Ever since I was done growing, I knew something was not 100 percent right. It became hard for me to run the mile without pain. My hips would lock and I was just told it was growing pains and soreness from athletics. Through a lifetime of playing sports, my muscles, tendons and bones ended up deteriorating. When I began college, I was an Athletic Training major. I was fascinated with injuries and healing them, even if it was on myself. By the end of my sophomore year I had a very strong idea of what was wrong with my hips. Through endless special tests, articles and experiments, I narrowed it down to tendonitis or my differential diagnosis: a labral tear. Now, most people think labral tears only happen in the shoulder. But the hip joint is the same as the shoulder joint, including its physiological make up. But ever since I walked into Rush Memorial Hospital on Damen in Chicago, I knew my life would change, and here is what my hip surgery taught me:
1. It taught me to be optimistic, even when I shouldn't be.
First thing's first, I got this surgery on May 7th, 2015 as a 19-year-old. When I say I have old lady hips, I mean it. I suffered through the comments along the lines of, "Oh my goodness, hip surgery?! You're so young!" But I had to be optimistic for a few reasons. One of the reasons being was for my dad. He shattered his knee his first year in college playing hockey at University of Minnesota, so he was immediately worried that this surgery would take me out of the game and so was I. Another reason was that I'm usually a hard head, so I knew it was time for me to take care of myself the right way, and to make sure I am seeing progress every day and following protocol. Finally, I needed to be optimistic for myself, because I saw very little support from my team, my family or my friends.
2. I work too hard.
As I was recovering and getting back onto the horse, I found that my protocol was taking up more time than I would like. I got the surgery in May so I could be back by the end of August for the soccer season, but it didn't look like it would turn out that way. I worked so hard to help myself heal. I pushed through pain, weakness, breakdowns and embarrassment just to "play" soccer this season. But, as always, no matter how hard I worked, my body wasn't going to heal faster than it would. No matter how hard I worked, it went unnoticed.
3. You never really know what you're getting into.
Day after day I became more and more frustrated with myself, my team, my coach, my playing time, everything. In May, if you were to ask me where I was going to be six months later, I would have said I would have been playing soccer again and loving it. Wrong. Not only did my hip ruin my experience, so did the staff. But I am not going to get into that right now. I really had no idea the extent of and the length of the road post surgery.
Since May 2015 I have come a long way. Yes, my hip still bothers be a bit (mainly because I pushed myself too hard for no playing time), but overall, it doesn't lock, and is more comfortable than it was prior. The only downside is that my other one needs to be looked at as well. So, I guess we will get another article and play by play of the next one!
