When people are considering surgery for femoroacetabular impingement, they often hear some extraordinary predictions of success. One client with hip pain said his surgeon gave him 99% certainty that hip surgery would cure his hip pain. I’ve had people email me from around the world say their hip surgeons are 90% certain that the hip surgery will solve their FAI hip pain.

And yet you hear a never-ending chorus of hip surgery patients say that their hips are no better after surgery. 

So, what is the real FAI surgery success rate?

Is the FAI surgery success rate at 90%?

I’ve posted on this topic before, and if you haven’t read that article, it’d be a good idea to do so now....

^{Are PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections worth it for joint pain? Photo by RF._.studio}

Osteoarthritis, labral tears, and cartilage and tendon pain can all prompt doctors to prescribe platelet-rich plasma injections. Here’s why you should consider functional movement training first.

Table of Contents

• What are PRP Injections?
• Why are PRP Injections Controversial?
• PRP Injections for Soft Tissue Issues
• PRP injections for Osteoarthritis
• The Flawed Science Behind PRP Injections
• Functional Movement Training for Joint Pain

What are PRP Injections?

I work with a lot of clients who have had chronic hip, knee, back, and shoulder pain. They have usually spent all kinds of money and time trying to fix their aches and...

You’ve been told you’ve got hip impingement. You don’t want surgery. You’ve started learning how to exercise your hips and to do massage work on yourself. Now you’ve discovered TRIGGER POINTS!

Someone posed this question on a Facebook support group for people who are suffering with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI):

I do have a question about muscles that need strengthening (as glutes) but that are painful because full of trigger points…same for muscles that need stretching but are full of trigger points. What do you suggest in such cases? I know that muscles with painful trigger points shouldn’t be stretched or strengthened, you should first get rid of the trigger points otherwise they...

When you do research on FAI surgery, you often come across numbers that sound spectacular. You find claims that hip surgery for FAI is about 80% effective in curing your hip pain.

If this number were correct, surgery for FAI would make a lot of sense. Why suffer with hip pain, clicking, and snapping when you can just do a surgery and be 100% back to normal? Everyone wants to be able to move well, play sports, and enjoy their daily lives, right?

What’s the real success rate for surgery for femoroacetabular impingement?

The real success rate of surgery for femoral acetabular impingement is unfortunately nowhere near 80%.

A study published in January of 2013 investigated the relationship between patient expectations and hip...

If you've been told you have a labral tear and that it's the cause of your shoulder pain and movement issues, there's something you need to know: Labral tears are not as important as your doctor thinks.

Labral tears don't have anything to do with pain - as near as we can tell.

For many years, the conventional medical wisdom has been this: if we can see something "torn" in your shoulder, that must be the reason you have pain. Based on MRIs and this belief, surgery has long been proposed as a way to solve shoulder pain that appears to be "caused" by labral tears.

If, in fact, the labral tears are causing people shoulder issues, we should be able to take someone off the street and, if we find a labral...

New Study Compares Arthroscopic Surgery for FAI to Conservative Treatment

In a recent study, researchers compared the effectiveness of arthroscopic surgery for FAI versus conservative treatment (non-surgical methods and physical therapy).[1]  The researchers concluded that surgery for FAI was more effective than non-surgical treatment.

Other studies have shown that physical therapy and surgery for FAI are equally disappointing. So like any study, sometimes you have to lift the hood and look at the fine print to see what's really going on. 

An analysis of the data actually shows us that neither FAI treatment was that good.  Arthroscopic surgery for FAI showed weak results. The nonsurgical treatment for FAI showed weak...

Are you considering a hip injection to test for femoroacetabular impingement (FAI)? Has a hip surgeon told you he can use a hip injection to diagnose FAI or a labral tear with certainty? In this article, you'll discover the truth about hip injections for FAI (and related hip joint pathology like labral tears).

Why get a hip injection for FAI?

The current medical approach to the diagnosis of FAI relies on several tests. One test is anesthetic injection into your hip joint.

Hip surgeons believe that if the injection relieves pain, you have a problem inside your hip joint (like a labral tear and/or FAI). Surgeons suggest that a successful injection indicates surgery is likely to be helpful. (source).

In other words, if an...

When it comes to lower back, hip, and knee pain, we can get caught in a cycle of beliefs that can make our pain worse. Here's how functional training may be the way to break the cycle. 

Table of Contents

• Theories About Chronic Pain and How to Treat It
• Why Rest Isn’t Always the Best Solution
• Your Perception of Pain Can Make It Worse
• Working Toward a Pain-Free, Empowered Solution to Functional Movement
• Why Functional Training Works to Treat Pain
• My Journey with Pain and Functional Training

When you’re suffering from chronic pain, you may search for the meaning behind your suffering, asking yourself What's wrong with me? Or What did I do to deserve this?

However, the meanings we ascribe to our chronic pain...

Functional training may help relieve thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms, including cold and numb hands. Learn the risks of TOS surgery, along with less-risky thoracic outlet syndrome treatments, including simple movement solutions that address muscle dysfunction.

Table of Contents

What is Thoracic Outlet Syndrome?
Should You Get Surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome?
What are the Complication Rates with Thoracic Outlet Surgery?
What are the Success Rates of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome?
What will my Quality of Life be Post Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Surgery?
What are the Alternatives to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Surgery?
How I Fixed my Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Symptoms
Functional Training Exercises for Relieving Symptoms of Thoracic Outlet...

Fixing Shoulder Impingement and Its Attendant Pain Means Taking a Closer Look at Your Functional Movement—Not that Your Bones Are Built Badly

Table of Contents

• A Quick Overview of Shoulder Impingement
• How Acromion Types Are—or Are Not—Related to Shoulder Impingement
• Does Shoulder Impingement Surgery Work?
• How Can You Fix Shoulder Impingement without Surgery?

A Quick Overview of Shoulder Impingement 

Surgeons often claim that shoulder impingement syndrome (also known as subacromial impingement) is the result of bad bone shapes. This theory was first introduced in 1972 [overview by the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery available here] by surgeon Charles S. Neer II. He had dissected cadavers for evidence of...