Prospective Evaluation of Sport Activity and the Development of Femoroacetabular Impingement in the Adolescent Hip

Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is a condition of the hip where there is a mis-fit between the femoral head (ball) and hip acetabulum (socket). The abnormalities on the hip bones collide or "impinge" during movements such as hip flexion and rotation. Typically, patients with this condition are young adults who present with hip pain, loss of hip function, and in many cases, osteoarthritis later in life. The rate of diagnoses of FAI has dramatically risen across all age groups, but it has been especially notable within adolescent populations. There has been a corresponding increase in the number of surgeries performed on younger and younger hips to treat pain and loss of function due to this condition. Preliminary small-scale research has hypothesized that increased activity, such as sport specialization (i.e. playing only one sport for most of the year) at an early age when the hip is still developing, may be the cause. In the past 20 years, sport injuries among children have dramatically increased, where close to 45 million young athletes participate in organized sports annually in Canada and the US alone. There is a current trend among coaches and parents to have children focus on one sport with the thought that this dedication will allow them to reach an elite level. We are proposing the first international, longitudinal cohort study to determine the effect of sport specialization on the development of FAI during the critical phase of hip development (i.e. between the ages of 12-14 years). Volunteer participants will be recruited across Canada and internationally and will be evaluated clinically and radiographically (i.e. using MRI) over 2 years. This study will not only prospectively evaluate the role of sport activity the development of FAI, but also inform preventative training protocols to potentially reduce its incidence among adolescents, and later as adults, as well as identify parameters to detect hips that are at risk for developing FAI.