Conditions + Treatments
Hip Dysplasia
Periacetabular Osteotomy (PAO)
Claire has always been active, participating in gymnastics and cheerleading. She’s had numerous injuries in the past, but her hip problems began on August 1, 2018. While Claire was tumbling, she injured her right knee; her patella was dislocated for nearly four hours before doctors in the emergency room reset it.
During our ER visit, Claire complained her right hip was bothering her as well. The doctors took an x-ray and said everything looked fine, so they continued to focus on her knee and didn’t worry about the hip.
Fast forward to one month later, Claire had MPFL reconstruction surgery on her knee to fix her patella. The surgery went well, but during rehab, the pain in her hip persisted.
Claire’s dad, Chip Lindsey, is the head football coach at Troy University, and Dr. Jeffrey Dugas at Andrews Sports Medicine is Troy’s team physician. So, in January 2019, while Dr. Dugas was in Troy with the football team, he examined Claire’s knee to clear her before cheerleading tryouts. She mentioned her hip pain to Dr. Dugas, and he thought she might have torn her labrum.
Dr. Dugas then recommended Claire go see Dr. Michael Ryan, a sports medicine and hip preservation specialist at Andrews, because of his expertise in non-arthritic hip injuries and conditions. We scheduled an appointment with Dr. Ryan the following week, at which point he ordered and reviewed advanced imaging and confirmed Claire had a labral tear and hip dysplasia.
Dr. Ryan went on to explain Claire had hip dysplasia in both hips, which we were not expecting at all. It was shocking to learn she had such a serious condition with many possible difficulties for her in the future. Her left hip is asymptomatic, so we’ve left it alone; but for her right hip, he recommended she start physical therapy to try and strengthen it. However, it soon became clear there wouldn’t be any improvement without some other intervention, so our next option was surgery.
Claire had PAO surgery on her right hip on April 30, 2019. She was a little nervous, more so about the little details than the surgery itself. It’s a complex surgery, and she was only 15 years old at the time, so I was impressed with how much of a trooper she was. I was feeling anxious in the waiting room for the duration of the surgery, but Andrews staff called me every hour to let me know how it was going.
Despite her understandable nerves about the procedure, Claire was completely comfortable with Dr. Ryan and Kirby from the get-go. They were so wonderful every step of the way, and even provided us with a packet detailing all the medications she’d be on, and what to expect week-by-week post-op. They were also always available to answer any questions or concerns we had during Claire's recovery journey.
Now, a little over a year later, Claire has been fully cleared and is back to tumbling with no hip pain.
Our family is so grateful to the excellent, professional staff at Andrews Sports Medicine for helping our daughter overcome her injury. We would absolutely recommend Andrews Sports Medicine to anyone facing any kind of orthopaedic issue.
Cecily Lindsey - Claire’s mom
