Share review of Professor Damian Griffin OBE TD VR BM BCh MA MPhil FRCS(Tr&Orth)

Professor Damian Griffin OBE TD VR BM BCh MA MPhil FRCS(Tr&Orth) 2022-06-27 Person 5 5 0

I have had bi-lateral arthroscopies for labral tears and a femoral osteotomy. I am a 41 year old female and in Feb 2020 began to get night pain in my right hip. After a few months it was at the point where I couldn't sleep and it began to effect my walking. The pandemic had just hit and so we turned to private care. As I am not a sports professional, I had not heard of Prof Griffin before and was just incredibly lucky for my insurance to suggest him. I am so pleased they did! After speaking to various doctors who had dismissed my hip pain, when I spoke to Prof Griffin and he said: 'it sounds like you have a labral tear' I was overjoyed that someone 'got it'! By this point I had been having a small pain in my left hip as well, but not as severe or debilitating as the right. After I met with the physio, James, for an online base assessment, my left hip actually tore during the call. It was a blessing in disguise as now they knew to MRI both of my hips. This lead to me having a MUA (manipulation under anesthetic) with Prof Griffin so he could check how my hip pain changed with lidocaine in them. This was a simple half day out patient procedure where the physios test your mobility before the injections and then after as well to see if you would be a candidate for the arthroscopy procedure. My hips did well with the injections and I was booked for surgery on both hips, a week apart. With my first arthroscopy, I did have a complication where my muscles seized up and it was extremely painful. Once the nurses were able to control the pain with pain meds, it was okay. Because of this, when I was in a week later for the second hip I was able to speak to the anesthetist and he agreed to monitor me closely and gave me a list of different meds they could administer quickly if I needed them. This really helped my confidence going in. After the second procedure, Prof Griffin and Dr Wyse came in to check I didn't have the same pain as the week before. Thankfully I didn't but I was grateful and impressed with their level of care. After the arthroscopies, you are put on a machine that helps you move your leg and an ice machine. The ice machine is amazing. It really helps with the swelling and pain. You are encouraged to get up and about as soon as possible after your surgery. It feels counterintuitive but honestly it is the best thing as getting everything moving is better for your body and it helps you feel like 'you' again quicker! Once home, I rented an ice machine and that helped with my recovery. I met with the physio weekly initially and my main advice would be: be HONEST with yourself and with your physio and DO THE EXERCISES! Rehab is HARD WORK - but surgery is only part of the story, you have to do the other part by being active with your recovery and making the effort to get stronger again. It is totally worth it. But my journey wasn't over. Even after both arthroscopies and losing weight and doing everything my physio told me to do, after 8 months I still couldn't walk for more than 5 minutes without pain in my right hip. So I was referred back to Prof Griffin. We did another MUA and discovered that my internal rotation of my hips was all off. A 'normal' person would have an internal rotation of 45 degrees and an external rotation of 25. Mine was 70 degrees internal rotation and 0 external rotation! So my femoral head wasn't sitting nicely in the socket and that's what was causing the tears. Prof Griffin explained to me he needed to do a Femoral Osteotomy: essentially cut my femur in half and twist it to create a more even rotation. Prof Griffin explained it all very clearly and of course told me I didn't need to do this at all. However, I had essentially already lost so much mobility in the last year, I really wanted to get my life back and I knew this bigger surgery was what I needed. So, even with my femur being cut from the inside and turned and a rod and screws being placed inside the bone to keep it all secure, the precision and delicate nature that Prof Griffin has with this surgery meant that the only scars I have are a few 1-2 cm scars along my right thigh and a 5cm scar on my bum. A year on and they are hardly noticeable. Since this was a bigger surgery, I spoke to the anesthetist about my worry concerning the leg spasms after the surgery again. He agreed to do a nerve block and it was such a relief to know I didn't have to worry about that. I stayed in the hospital for 6 nights. There was no rush to get home. Prof came to see me most days and spent one evening helping me walk. He encouraged me to weight bear as much as possible as my femur fracture needed the weight bearing to help it fuse. He also reminded me that he would rather me stay in the hospital until I was fully confident about going home and using stairs etc. So that took the pressure off to do things too quickly. The main takeaway from these three surgeries that I have had is: everything takes time, you are on your own journey, don't compare yourself with anyone else! My muscles did NOT like being moved during the FO surgery and for me that meant a lot of pain and spasms for months. This put a halt to my physio rehab in some respects as there were movements I just could not do. Eventually, everything settled down and I finally turned a corner 6 months after my operation. See, everything takes time. Now I am back at the gym doing weighted squats I never would have dreamed of and having fun finding new skills and trying new sports I never thought I would be able to do. I am back with walking with my family and my dog and loving life. It has taken me longer than expected and Prof and I joke that I'm his 'weird' patient but that's what is so personable about him. He still cared for me as a whole person and has rooted for me throughout the last two years to get back on my feet - even when I'm not a professional sports person. He treats you, for you. I am incredibly lucky to have been referred to him. I really hope my left hip doesn't need treating - but if it does, he's the man I'm going straight back to.