I first discovered I had a problem with my hips when I was in my late 30’s and out horseback riding with friends. I turned around in the saddle to talk to someone behind me and felt a sharp pain in both hips. Because this pain became more frequent after that day and involved other activities, I went to my family doctor, who decided I’d pulled a muscle. However, this muscle pull didn’t get any better. In fact, I started having trouble getting out of a chair and immediately walking, I couldn’t get on or off my horse at all unless I first climbed up onto something tall enough, and even that was a chore. I couldn’t raise either of my legs in any direction more than about 70 degrees without extreme discomfort and couldn’t twist my legs in either direction.
For about eight years, I kept going to physicians of different specialties trying to get a solution and found none. Then a local orthopedic surgeon saw my congenital problem on x-ray and referred me to Dr. John Clohisy in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Clohisy took me seriously when I explained my issues to him, and he reconstructed both hip joints, the right hip in 2006 and the left hip in 2007.
Although recovery from the surgery was lengthy and even painful, I can now do just about any activity I want to do. I frequently horseback ride with my family (I can get on and off the horse!), I can walk anywhere I want to walk, including hike the hills of our Ozark property, and move around nearly as much as I want to. I don’t take the corrective procedure done to both of my hips lightly, and I am careful not to abuse them. I am very grateful for that local surgeon who referred me on to an expert, Dr. Clohisy.