Line One Distributor’s MD, Jez Crook, was a stand-up racer in the eighties and nineties. Having reached the grand old age of 45 he realised that all that leg-trailing may have taken its toll on his hip. 
He tells us just how easy it is to get fixed.....

When you get to 45 you expect to have the odd ache and pain here and there but when I started to get a really painful dull ache in my hip I thought here we go….arthritis, just what I need. So first port of call was my local GP, after checking me out she came up with a handful of possibilities of what it could be but wasn’t 100% sure, so she referred me to a hip specialist in Oxford by the name of Duncan Whitwell. Firstly I had to have a normal X-ray, which didn’t show anything and then an MRI scan, which indicated I had an acute tear of the labrum. The labrum is a type of cartilage that surrounds the socket of ball-and-socket joints. The labrum forms a ring around the edge of the bony socket of the joint. It helps to provide stability to the joint by deepening the socket, yet unlike bone, it also allows flexibility and motion.There are a quite few reasons why a labral tear can occur, the main one being a sporting injury, where the hip joint is subjected to a twist under weight or pressure. After looking at the MRI scan results Duncan asked me what my main sport or hobby was, I know I don’t exactly do much Jetskiing these days but back in the ‘80’s & ‘90’s I was never off one. I then explained that I was very much a stand-up rider who used to race and to make a turn quicker I would drag a leg in the water to act as a rudder. Now I’m not saying that this is the only reason that my labrum tore but you can be damn sure it didn’t help matters, over the years it would have made it weaker and weaker and then suddenly it let go.

The treatment of hip labral tears is evolving quite quickly. Only a few years ago this injury was rarely recognized. Now it is becoming increasingly common to hear of athletes having their “hip scoped” to have their labral tear treated, probably the two most common are David Beckham and Tiger Woods although after researching this I’ve now found out that Brittany Spears has had hers done as well! Probably all that jumping up and down and dancing she does. Using arthroscopic techniques (keyhole surgery), surgeons can remove loose fragments from within the joint and trim or repair the hip labral tear.

I went in for the op on 13th May and so far, so good. It’s a bit uncomfortable for a few days hobbling around on crutches and then a few weeks for physiotherapy. So what I’m trying to say is that if you get a painful feeling within your hip joint it probably isn’t because you’re getting on a bit and think you have arthritis (which I did), it could have actually been brought upon from leg dragging on your Jetski, either way it’s a straight forward operation which takes an hour or two perform and then you’ll be back on your ski within three to four weeks. Don’t put it off, my surgeon told me I was probably five years off a full hip replacement, this way, hopefully it will see me out…..