Tara Zimmerman is your typical active 34-year-old. She enjoys kayaking, taking walks, riding her bike and playing with her nieces and nephews. Her profession as a kindergarten teacher keeps her on her feet and active. About a year ago, she fell down the stairs at home while she was leaving for work, landing on her elbow and right hip. Not thinking much of it, she got up and continued on with her day only noticing a few bruises a couple of days later.
The Problem: Hip Injury Symptoms
After about two weeks, Tara started to have some hip pain. By the summer of 2020, Tara could no longer hold her 2-month-old niece while standing for more than 5 minutes due to the unbearable pain. She would become sore from a ten-minute walk or bike ride. After various doctor’s appointments and tests, she found out that she was mainly healthy and couldn’t find the root to this problem. The pain continued.
When Tara stood or sat for too long, she would have back, stomach and hip pain. Her class was able to safely continue in person and she ended up only being able to wear sneakers due to other shoes making her pain worse. Slowing becoming unable to do the things she loved, Tara had hit a low regarding her health. “I was beginning to become mentally exhausted and it was affecting me so much that I didn’t want to do much. I thought this was going to be the new way of life that I would have to just live with,” she said.
The Solution: Hip Socket Surgery
After numerous different doctors’ appointments, scans, tests, cortisone shots and different types of physical therapy, Tara was referred to UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. She first saw Dr. K. Keely Boyle, a lower extremity joint replacement specialist. Dr. Boyle listened to all of the symptoms Tara was experiencing and decided to order more testing. She checked on Tara twice after that visit to ensure she was aware of the test results and what they meant. Dr. Boyle then referred Tara to Dr. Geoffrey Bernas, a sports medicine, knee, shoulder and hip arthroscopy specialist.
More x-rays were done that led to finding out that Tara had hip impingement, a shape mismatch between the ball and socket that led to a tear of the labrum, the cartilage around her socket. She also learned this could be surgically treated. Dr. Bernas made sure that Tara understood everything about her surgery including the risks and possible outcomes.
The Result: Benefits of Hip Surgery
Tara had her surgery on January 5th. “From the moment I came out of surgery, I have been TOTALLY pain free!” said Tara. “I knew at this moment that we definitely hit a grand slam!” In the past 5 weeks, Tara has not had any of the pain that she had prior to her surgery. She continuously tells her friends and family how blessed she is to feel amazing and have had this team of physicians in her life.
Tara is now in the physical therapy department of UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and appreciates their support and willingness to push her to stay strong and get healthy in the right way. “To be honest, every person that I have met or worked with from the secretaries to the surgeons, UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine has been phenomenal. Thank you to all of those people who have changed my life for the better!”
If you are having bone, joint or muscle pain and you don’t know or understand the cause of it, please contact us today. We strive to relieve pain in all of our patients so that they can get back to doing the activities they love and enjoy.