Costen Irons, 30, doesn’t look like someone who has experienced hip trouble during his life. In middle and high school, he ran track and played basketball. Hecontinued to play JV college basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
All the while, the physical education teacher and coach had played with pain deep inside his hip that had developed at around age 15. Though Irons exercised and took care of himself after college, the pain in his hip eventually progressed to the point of becoming a problem. It even hurt when he was just standing still.
By the time Ironsmet with
orthopedic surgeon Dr. Allston Stubbs, Jr. at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, the pain had spread to his lower back, thighs, foot and groin. Ironslearned that he had an impingement, which is when the ball inside the hip joint is too big for its socket. Additionally, he had worn away most of the cartilage in the hip, meaning that bone was grinding almost directly on bone.
Previous surgical procedures performedhad not helped with the pain.
“Dr. Stubbs told me it was a combination of being genetically prone to this condition and being very active when I was still growing,” Costen said. He was also told it was common for the pain to migrate to other areas.
A two-hour
orthopedic surgery completed by Dr. Stubbs made all the difference forIrons. An innovative type of hip arthroscopy mendedhis malformed hip joints. Dr. Stubbs also repaired Irons’ cartilage in several locations on the hipbone where it had worn away and drilled holes in microfractures to stimulate cartilage growth. It is the same type of orthopedic surgery used to correcthip problems for Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.
Now painfree,Irons has been able to resume his physically active lifestyle. He even won a 5K last fall. With all the wear and tear, his hip is still working just
fine.
