Snapping hip syndrome

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Merrick

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Hi, does anyone have any advice for a 17 year old suffering from this condition?
My daughter is currently awaiting an MRI scan after being diagnosed by a consultant as having this condition. She has ridden since before she could walk, does dressage and showing but this has stopped her in her tracks, reducing her to tears not only when she rides, simply sitting in one position for longer than 15 minutes is agonising.
Consultants advice? " stop riding Dobbin" hardly helpful for someone who wants to make a career out of horses!
She was advised to stop riding to see if the symptoms improve for a bit and they haven't anyway!
Consultant implied I am a pushy mother but I want my 17 year old to do what she wants to without being in pain! If that makes me pushy then so be it. :/
 
I've had it for years and it's horribly painful, I had to stop riding because of the pain but I have a few other problems as well and I'm fairly old. There are several causes and it's really important to have the correct one diagnosed for treatment to be effective. I would be as damned pushy and desk banging as you can, your daughter is very young and should not have to put up with this pain plus mindless, brainless comments from a consultant!
 
My daughter suffers with it and i have seen her reduced to tears with it. its painful but she as always ridden from as soon as i could sit her on her pony. Shes 24 now . she lives and still rides in australia and she has said the warmth helps the pain(having been back here for 2 weeks recently she noticed difference)
 
Hi merrick sorry no advice but I can sympathise. I have also just developed this, out of the blue after 40 years riding :( It's excruciatingly painful when it 'snaps' and leaves my hip very sore and tender. The first time it did it I thought my hip had popped out. I've had xrays and the Dr gave me very strong anti inflammatories, 1000mg a day which definitely helped. I had to stop riding for 2 weeks but have now started again and touch wood, it's been ok.

I hope your daughter gets sorted, I can't imagine being told 'no more riding' when it's you're passion. Two weeks was long enough for me!

I'll be watching for other replies with interest.
 
I had (have) something similar, but even with an MRI I never did get a proper diagnosis, so may not be exactly the same as your daughter (after a lot of research I'm fairly sure my problem is due to a tight piriformis). But I do understand the pain and the fact that there NO position in which you can sit / stand / lie to relieve it.

For me stretching the outside of my hip did the most good. I'll try to describe: sit on butt, legs straight out in front, feet in line with hips. Then bend one knee and put that foot outside the opposite knee. Sit up straight and hug the bent knee towards your body. Hold for 30 seconds then do the other side.

The good news is that I'm pretty much 100% now, just have to remember to stretch when I feel it's getting tight again. Riding very large / wide horses does make it worse, so that is one thing I try not to so too often.

Hope your daughter finds an answer soon.
 
Not sure what snapping hip syndrome is, but having been diagnosed with torn cartilage and athritis in my hips in my twenties, an Mri is definitely the best way to go to identify the problem and decide ona treatment options. Do you have any private medical cover? Apparently nhs wouldn't have covered my op but I'm glad I had it. Feel free to pm me if you want.
 
I'm not sure if I maybe have this? Not as severe as your daughter but I have trouble with my right hip. Both hips used to be a bit clicky and I could normally stretch into it until it did click. But over the years my right hip has got worse and generally once a day I get a sensation that my hip needs to click and if I try to stretch into it it is really painful and won't 'click'. Fortunately it hasn't affected my riding but it has sometimes felt like it needed ot click while riding and it hurt! I've been having lessons the past year with a classical instructor who says my hips are tight and we have been working on trying to 'open' my hip up and so I wonder if this has contributed to making it occur more?

You can do various stretches to work the quads, hammys etc but not sure how beneficial this is? Has she been prescribed any anti-inflammatories?
 
She was initially prescribed anti inflammatories, they didn't touch it. This pain contributed to her having a fall at college last year ( she was doing level 1 horse care and knowledge but has had to do a completely non horsy course this year despite being offered an unconditional place on level 2)
My biggest concern is that she is starting to "distance" herself from her pony which I think is her defence mechanism kicking in- she isn't losing interest because she wants to ride all 4 of ours but her pony is her world and the thought of anyone else even sitting on him sends her into a panic (she was there when he was born- the same year she lost her beloved first pony) and she backed and broke him helped by my hubby.
We are getting her to start lunging and long reining him to keep him going ( I would need to lose about 3 stone to dare get on him even without her knowing!) but even then her hips will hurt after a few minutes.
Strangely when we commented that the problem is making her current course at college difficult the consultant didn't comment.
I think we will try painkillers, the exercises mentioned, and see what the MRI shows up, and take it from there. I can see her step dad coming next time- like we have said if she was a professional footballer I doubt if he'd said " stop playing footie then."
Sadly no medical cover so will have to rely on the good old NHS!
Worrying. ( and I used to be a midwife so I should know lol!)
 
Doctors can be so frustrating. I had chronic back pain, the doctor told me I'd have to have it for 8 weeks before he could do anything. Went back 8 weeks lates and he just said "what are you looking for from me?" Erm...you're the one that went to medical school for years!

Hopefully painkillers will help but it will be good to see what the MRI picks up. I'd be slightly worried about masking something that may actually get worse with time. Be preparred to be forceful and make the doctor do something/make appropriate referrals. It isn't good enough to just say "oh well".

Maybe it would benefit to visit an osteo and/or physio to get their opinion? Won't be cheap but even just paying for a consultation may be worthwhile as they would say if they thought it needed to be looked into
 
A major update... The long awaited MRI scans have taken place-painful for poor Emma as this consisted of injecting dye into her hip joints under X-ray followed by MRI scans. First one was done last Tuesday, second one today.
The Dr injecting the dye told us the MRI last week (on the worst hip) showed a piece of cartilage floating within the joint. She said no wonder it was painful and will need an Arthroscopy to remove but this is generally done via keyhole surgery these days so scarring is minimal.
So if we'd listened to the Consultant and I hadn't been the "pushy parent" we would never have moved forward:/
It makes me mad that 3 Doctors have told us that if riding hurts to stop, and have prescribed painkillers and anti-inflammatories (which to my knowledge do not melt cartilage!)
I think poor Emma although exhausted and more than a little traumatised, is relieved that something has been found in at least one hip....now we just have to get some treatment and an op date sorted sooner rather than later. She rode last week for the first time in 2 months but suffered the next day ( mind you so did I!)
Can't say I can blame her if she has a " told you so" attitude when we go back to see the Consultant!
 
That's so good that they've found what's wrong and there is a solution.

It's ridiculous isn't it that you have to be so forceful to get them to look into things.

My sis was telling me that one of the teachers at her school hurt her leg before Christmas while running (she is a regular runner). She went to the doctors 3 times and they just fobbed her off with rest. On Christmas day she had to go to A&E because it was so painful. They x-rayed it and she actually had a stress fracture! The doctor at A&E said that for a runner that is a common injury. The first time someone actually TOUCHED her knee to examine it was when she went to A&E. Her doctors just assumed that because she is of an 'older' age that it was just something like stiff joints or arthritis.

Hope all goes well with the op and it mends things!
 
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