MY NAME IS Jamel. I’m a PT/ football coach and former semi-professional footballer. At 28, I had a bilateral hip resurfacing surgery, and I want to share my experience.
I remember I first felt pain in my right hip in a mid-season match and thought it was just a typical injury that would recover with rest, but as I continued to play throughout the season, the pain I felt after every match got worse. My hip would begin to seize up for 1 to 2 days after playing. I tried various remedies, stretching, ice baths, deep heat, etc. None of them helped.
I had a job in the city at the time as a facilities assistant, which was quite a physically demanding job, and this injury began to affect my work, so I saw a physio under the NHS. After waiting two months, I was told I had tight muscles and that there was nothing wrong with me; they gave me a stretch programme and told me to take painkillers when the pain got terrible whilst seeing me once a month for the next six months. Except for taking painkillers before and after matches, none of this helped.
It wasn’t until I went out to Oman, where I took a football coaching role, that I learned the seriousness of my injury. As well as coaching, I enjoyed playing 11 a side for the coach’s team every week but was still stuck in the cycle of taking painkillers two times a day and working/playing through the pain. Then, the pain worsened; I struggled to do basic things on some days, such as bending down to tie my laces, sitting in certain positions, and demonstrating basic drills. Also, the painkillers weren’t helping as much, and again, I sought medical help. As I could go private this time, I was seen quickly and sent for an MRI and X-ray after a week.
The results that came back were devastating. I was told I might have AVN (Avascular necrosis) and told to stop playing football or it would worsen. Mentally, I was done; football and being athletic is what I knew best, and in that instant, it felt like it was taken away from me. This put me in a state near depression as I could no longer do what I loved the most, but my passion for coaching and the gym kept me going.
A few months after, I brought my MRI and X-ray results back to a doctor in Chelsea & Westminster who said I had been misdiagnosed; rather than having AVN, I had severe hip impingements more on the right side. My first question after hearing this was, “Will I be able to play football again?” The answer was that I could do it with the proper treatment and rehab. I was then sent to UCLH, where I had a Hip Arthroscopy on my right side, which was successful, or so I thought, as after my nine months of rehab, I returned to playing and coaching, this time in Thailand.
After four months of playing and feeling myself again, the pain started returning, and I found myself back in the cycle of taking painkillers and playing through the pain until I couldn’t anymore.
The pain had got so bad in both hips that everyday life became difficult; I struggled to get in and out of my car, I couldn’t walk more than 1km without a limp, I woke up and got out of bed in agony and sometimes being woken up by sharp pains. I went to see a specialist who diagnosed me with osteoarthritis. I became depressed, and my confidence was shattered, not knowing if I’d ever feel like myself again.
Once I returned to the UK, I saw my previous Surgeon. I had heard about Andy Murray and his return to tennis after resurfacing, so I suggested I wanted hip resurfacing. He proposed otherwise that I have a bilateral hip replacement. Hearing I would no longer be in pain and having a chance to be involved in football again, and believing that he was the expert, I agreed to have the surgery.
Two weeks before my surgery, a friend put me in touch with a senior fitness coach, Wayne Lèal, who had had a similar experience. Wayne advised me to have hip resurfacing and to investigate what surgeons would be best to do it, which I would’ve never thought to do and never knew I could do. I will be forever grateful for Wayne’s advice. I immediately started researching.
I cancelled the surgery I had waited months for and decided to go for the resurfacing with a different surgeon; he was a lot more confident about my chances of playing sports at a high level, which was reassuring – and it was the best move I could have made.
I had one side done within three months and the other a year later. I’m now four months in from the last surgery, and the pain is non-existent; every day, I feel a little bit more muscular, a little bit more confident, a little bit more mobile, the feeling that I had forgotten for so long.
I want to turn what some would call a curse into a blessing. Going through this journey taught me so many insights that you need experience to know. Now, I have both, and my goal is to use what I have learned to hone my training skills to become a specialist trainer in hip strength, mobility, and rehabilitation.
Jamel
