Dancers Bounce Back After Hip Surgery, Study Shows

A new study looked at how competitive dancers recover after hip surgery. The surgery fixes a problem called femoroacetabular impingement, or FAI. This happens when the hip bones don't fit together right. Dancers are more likely to get FAI because they move their hips in big ways.

Doctors studied 37 dancers who had this surgery between 2010 and 2022. Most were young, around 21 years old. They followed these dancers for at least two years. On average, they checked in 7.4 years after surgery.

The results were mostly good. All the dancers said their pain went down and their hips worked better. Twenty of them, about 71%, went back to dancing. Of those, 17 got back to the same level or even better than before.

But not everyone stayed dancing long-term. Only 45% of those who returned kept dancing at the final checkup. Still, most who stopped did so for reasons not related to their hips. Four dancers needed another surgery on the same hip. Overall, most dancers felt happy with their surgery, giving it a 7.1 out of 10.

This study shows that hip surgery can help dancers get back to moving well. Most return to dance, and many keep doing it for years. But some face setbacks, so more research is needed.