UConn guard Omar Calhoun had two hip surgeries to alleviate discomfort from AFI syndrome, a wear & t

[FeedTheDove]

It's called Acetabulo-Femoral hip impingement syndrome, it's a "fairly" new diagnosis in the sports medicine world. Commonly seen with young athletes
To clear things up:
1. AFI for the most part comes off as chronic pain (groin) with respect to rotation of the thigh as well as flexion

2. It has nothing to do with instability, so if you're worried about "his confidence", that's not really an issue........an athletes lack of confidence post-surgery is primarily relegated to ligament/tendon tears of their major joints (acl, mcl, Achilles,etc)

3. It's due to uneven gliding of the hip joint (which is a ball&socket) creating bone spurs, possible cartilage damage, +/- LT...... (Kind of like a piston slowly seizing in an engine, the motion becomes less and less fluid)

4. It is not major surgery, it's arthroscopic (3 inch incision) and involves removing the bony growths, removing any diseased cartilage (collateral damage from uneven joint rotation) , and repairing the labrum (which isn't always torn)

Personally, i see no reason to be overly concerned, full recovery in ~3 months, if anything he will have to regain his strength, but overall after the procedure, he should be 10 times more explosive, because an AFI will undoubtedly hold you back due to the pain it causes.

All in all, it's unfortunate he won't be able to work on his bball skills over a portion of the summer, like his peers, but if he was dealing with AFI for much of last season, the procedure he underwent will free him up towards becoming quicker and more explosive on the court...

No clue if you would know the answer to this but..

Would you say this is the "hip version" of say an AC joint inflammation? Last summer I was told I had AC Joint inflamation which I guess developed itself into Arthritis in my AC joint. (This, i suppose, was due to years of baseball/weight lifting blah blah blah..) So in November i had a similar sounding arthroscopic surgery in my shoulder where they took out extra cartilage/bony growths in order to rid my arthritis. I took about 2 months off of all upper body in the gym and was back in it earlier than expected, mainly because I couldnt take it anymore.

Roughly 5 months back into lifting, the pain has definitely hindered, but I can definitely still feel it where I had pain before the surgery. I dont know if this is because I didnt take enough time off (probably) but I pretty much ignore whatever pain I have and keep lifting, because its honestly not too bad. I realize this probably isnt smart but thats not the point.

I guess I'm just trying to see if i can find any connection with his injury and mine, and see if he'll have any possible lingering pain like me. The way you described it sounds so similar to what I went through with my shoulder.

 

[sammydabiz]

I guess I'm just trying to see if i can find any connection with his injury and mine, and see if he'll have any possible lingering pain like me. The way you described it sounds so similar to what I went through with my shoulder.

Yes and no per se,

With AC joint inflammation--->arthritis------>formation of bone spurs/catedlidege damage.....is more so than not the result of injury to the joint at one point in time. Your inflammatory cells (pmn's, monocytes, etc) that travel to the site of injury to help heal the body are actually the very same thing that further deteriorates your joint, forming the bone spurs and and eventual cartilage damage.

With AFI of the hip, instead of direct damage to the joint, it's speculated to occur from abnormal bone development during childhood (mostly reserved to athletes in which there is extensive use of the hip joint) This abnormal growth is described as a "Cam impingement" which there is an abnormal bony growth directly distal to the ball end of the femur. This in turn creates an abnormal motion between the ball end of the femur and the socket end of the pelvis. This rigidity of the hip socket causes ----> bone spurs---->cartilage damage------> down the road eventual arthritis, but overall pain can be severe & chronic (long periods of time).

****there is also another impingement (pincer) which is an overgrowth on the socket portion of the hip, this is mostly seen in middle aged women.

So to answer your Q, the methods forming eventual joint pathologies are different (one is injury/auto inflammation , the other is highly suspected to be congenital or acquired via high activity during developmental years )..... However, the resulting pathology, is fairly similar both involving bone spurs/cartilage damage/arthritis. It is the hope that with surgery to fix AFI (removing any resultant bone spurs/cartilage damage) but primarily the removal of the abnormal growth will "right the ship" and no further damage will incur.
With your AC injury you can clear up the bone spurs & excess damage, to relieve the acute pain but the fact of the matter is that your osteoarthritis will still exist. Your can take steriod (cortisone) shots to relieve the pain, but it will never be a cure from the persistent pain. Eventually if the shoulder becomes highly dysfunctional, the only true cure would be shoulder replacemt surgery.
** I should also note that in Omar's case any existence of arthritic damage can play a big role in full recovery or not.....at his age however, arthritis has not likely set in, and he should be stronger/faster just by removing the cause of pain.
Hope that helped

 

[Waquoit]

That's actually somewhat encouraging to hear. Omar showed a pretty good midrange game and outside shot, but for someone who's going to have to play the 2 at the next level, his handle was ghastly. I'm relieved that it was a physical limitation not really representative of his talents.

It really is encouraging. I hope it's not like the old joke, though.

"Doc, after the surgery will I be able to play the piano?"
"I see no reason why not"
"Good, because I wasn't able to play the piano before!"

 

[FeedTheDove]

So to answer your Q, the methods forming eventual joint pathologies are different (one is injury/auto inflammation , the other is highly suspected to be congenital or acquired via high activity during developmental years )..... However, the resulting pathology, is fairly similar both involving bone spurs/cartilage damage/arthritis. It is the hope that with surgery to fix AFI (removing any resultant bone spurs/cartilage damage) but primarily the removal of the abnormal growth will "right the ship" and no further damage will incur.
With your AC injury you can clear up the bone spurs & excess damage, to relieve the acute pain but the fact of the matter is that your osteoarthritis will still exist. Your can take steriod (cortisone) shots to relieve the pain, but it will never be a cure from the persistent pain. Eventually if the shoulder becomes highly dysfunctional, the only true cure would be shoulder replacemt surgery.
I should also note that in Omar's case any existence of arthritic damage can play a big role in full recovery or not.....at his age however, arthritis has not likely set in, and he should be stronger/faster just by removing the cause of pain.
Hope that helped

It did, thanks, it was very informative... and a little depressing for me haha. I wouldn't completeeeeely rule out arthritis as unlikely as it is... I developed it at 20 years old... pretty odd