I haven't posted must mostly because things were going really well. I was back to running, biking, hiking, doing pilates and keeping up with my weight training. I had finally gotten to the point where I had no limitations on activities and the hip was staying (mostly) quiet.
A few months ago, I felt a twinge in my non-surgery hip. And then another twinge. Which turned into a deep, awful ache, a sharp pain and a feeling of something "stuck" in my hip. I pretty much knew what was going on, but finally got the arthrogram/MRI this past week.
I haven't seen the doctor yet, but I am pretty confident that there is a tear.
The red arrow is pointing to the tear (I am not a doctor, I just play one on TV). The labrum should be a deep triangle on the left hand side of the joint, and the dye cuts across where the labrum should be in tact (it basically should be symmetrical with the black part on the right hand side).
As a comparison, here was my right hip pre-surgery (slightly different angle):
The pain so far is not anywhere near where I was pre-surgery on the last hip, so I am hoping that some activity modification and additional rest will be enough to hold off heading back into the operating room. I have no real desire to deal with into the 3x/week rehab, limited activity, and all the other unpleasantness of a major surgery.
It's been said that about 20% of the population has FAI in both hips. I guess that puts me in an exclusive minority!