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Hip-Joint Degeneration
Modern Comeback: Jason Isringhausen
Hip resurfacing before the 2007 season allowed the St. Louis Cardinals’ relief pitcher go from “couldn’t stand” to “elite closer” in six months.
Future Fix: In nearly every sport, a hip injury has been the kiss of death for an athlete. Stem cells offer the best (if distant) hope for fixing hobbled hips, but advances in minimally invasive surgery have made the once-complex hip replacement almost routine. Stronger materials and improvements to MRI scanners and 3-D computer modeling have also led to better-fitting, stronger prosthetics. The biggest advance for quicker recoveries is a patch-job procedure called resurfacing, in which doctors use tiny tools to smooth rough spots in the joint and coat it with a low-friction ceramic substance. In the lab, researchers are developing and testing motor-oil-like lubricants that doctors will inject into the hip post-surgery to reduce pain from friction and further speed recovery.
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