I now know why I can't dance!!! All of these years and I finally have an answer. As I wrote in my last blog entry here, I injured my left hip last spring while I was in peak early season training mode. At the time, I got an MRI taken that revealed inflammation/tendinitis in my left hip. To my surprise, it also revealed a labral tear in my right hip which was asymptomatic at the time. A lot has happened since then and I'll spare the details, except for the fact that during my rehab I ended up aggravating the labral tear which led me to visit a hip specialist for another look at the MRI. During that visit I found out the reason for my inability to dance for all of these years: I have femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) in my hip joints. FAI is a condition in which there is abnormal contact between the ball (femoral head) and socket (acetabulum) in the hip joint. In my case the femoral head has a flat portion that inhibits the joint rotation, likely contributed to the labral tear, and definitely ruins my dancing game. After many months of pursuing non-surgical treatments with no success, I have reached the decision to go the surgical route with the ultimate goal of fixing my hip problem for good. On April 1st I will be undergoing a hip arthroscopy in order to fix the labral tear and reshape the femoral head. This means I will have a 3 month rehabilitation following the procedure which will take me from crutches to full recovery. In the end the surgery will be worth it because the world needs me to dance. I also hope to get back to that triathlon thing that has been absent from me for the past year. That will definitely be nice.
