Hip Procedure Gets Soccer Star Back in the Game

In 2006, 17-year-old  Phil Mantua  sustained an injury that left him with tremendous hip pain, putting his future as a competitive soccer player in jeopardy. Now, nearly one year after undergoing hip arthroscopy, Phil describes his soccer game as, “100 percent — better than ever.”

Hip arthroscopy is a less-invasive alternative to open surgery, which involves larger incisions and a longer recovery, and leaves patients more vulnerable to infection.

Phil had a torn labrum, an injury to the cartilage that lines the hip joint. “In the past, patients like Phil would have undergone an extensive, more invasive surgery or been forced to significantly modify their activities,” explains GBMC Orthopedic Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Specialist David Buchalter, MD, one of only a handful of surgeons in Maryland who are trained to perform the procedure. “In this case, it would have meant that Phil would have had to give up competitive soccer.”

Arthroscopic surgery is a technique that allows surgeons to look inside and correct the joint through a tiny incision. It is an outpatient procedure most appropriate for younger, more athletic patients for whom it is important to preserve cartilage and joint function.   The repair can resolve the pain and reduce the likelihood that the injury will lead to the development of arthritis and the need for hip replacement surgery. 

“I am very grateful to Dr. Buchalter and GBMC,” Phil says. “I am back playing, looking at colleges for next fall and hoping that I will play college soccer. That would not have been possible if I had not had this surgery.”

“For the right patient, the procedure can be helpful, even life-changing,” Dr. Buchalter concludes. “It is very gratifying to get patients like Phil back doing what they want to do, pursuing their dreams and aspirations.”

For more information on orthopedic surgery at GBMC, contact the Joint Center at GBMC at 443-849-6261 or visit www.gbmc.org/joint.