Professor Damian Griffin OBE TD VR BM BCh MA MPhil FRCS(Tr&Orth)

Written by a private patient at The Harley Street Specialist Hospital

I would like to prefix this by saying quickly: If you're on the fence about having a hip arthroscopy have one, and have it with Damian, and have it ASAP! I am a GB Para-Badminton athlete (I have one hand, nothing hip related) who joined the full-time program Oct 2023. Within 2 weeks they had identified the range of motion in my hip was suspicious beyond any reasonable doubt. The doctor at the UK sport institute who was assessing me immediately said he knows someone who can give us a clear picture of whats going on. The doctor described Damian as someone who wouldn't rush into surgery, and would make it a top priority that it was the right thing for me moving forward. Needless to say he was spot on. After some initial scans and online meetings with Damian, it was apparent that I would need surgery to remove a rather large 'cam' on the front of both my hips (The 'ball' in the ball and socket joint in my hip, wasn't very round at all...) I was made well aware of every stage of the opperation, what might happen, whats likely to happen, and what the worst case scenario was. Reading other reviews people have left, I think it is obvious that Damian is especially good at putting the patient first, and keeping them very well informed. Unique to my case however, was the initial few weeks post opp. Because I needed both hips done, but having to use crutches with one hand is far from ideal (as Im sure you can imagine), I had a 2 week gap between opperations. This allowed me to use one leg to bear weight on, and only partially weight bear on the crutches. Damian insisted in making the experiance as confortable for me as possible, and I will say I felt I was in very safe hands throughout. For anyone worried about how long recovery will be... at the time of writing I am 4.5 months Post opp now and my hips are pain free and strong. My range of motion has gone from really bad, to average... which feels so surreal. To give an idea of how bad they were, we meausred my squat depth and I could not bend my knees past 120 degrees pre-opp. The range gained was immediate and the pain I felt was only an ache. My hips felt like they had worked really hard... which I guess they were, because I could now use muscles which I had no access to. Now I can squat over 90 degrees with weight on my back. My badminton is better than its ever been but Im still a few months of being given the green light to compete... The last thing I would like to mention is how it has improved other areas of my life. I can now sit at my desk and not hunch my back, so back pain is now far less frequent. Honestly still catch myself having done something which would've caused pain or discomfort, and stopped and smiled... genuinley smiled. I can't stress enough how strictly positive my experience has been, start to finish, and urge anyone on the fence about this to go ahead with it and go ahead with full confidence. Thanks again Damian, and goodluck to whoever may be reading this :)

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Written by a private patient at Three Shires Hospital - part of Circle Health Group

I have been involved in sport all my life and competed as a strong man with the likes of Geoff capes for many years, I also run my own plumbing heating and gas company. A few years ago my left hip became stiff and painful so my phisio Phil Pask referred me to Professor Griffin. I was diagnosed with requiring a full left hip replacement. I put this off for a couple of years due to concerns about loss of earnings due to time off recovering. As it happened I need not have worried as I was in hospital for 24 hours to have the new hip, walked out and after 2 days using an ice machine returned to office work. 1 week after that I was back servicing boilers and getting in and out of roof spaces. I only missed 1 week at the gym as well. It goes without saying the level of service I received from Professor Griffin and his team was second to none. I am 1 year post op now and the new hip has been life changing from the very start, I can run, row, cycle and do dead lifts, squats with no limitation from the hip. If your worrying that a new hip is the start of being old please dont as it gives you a new lease of life. Regards Roland Hill.

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Written by a private patient at The Harley Street Specialist Hospital

I had my first consultation with Professor Griffin in January exactly 1 year ago. I was 57 years of age, had recently exited from 20+ years of driving a global fintech company, and was a passionate (average) golfer with a handicap of 17. I was hoping to be able to play golf, as much as I wanted to, and be active with my wife and two sons, and enjoy “living” for as long as possible. My problem was my left hip. I was experiencing chronic pain in my left hip for over five years. I had made some very good progress working with a sports strength and conditioning specialist. We were able to eliminate the constant pain I felt at night, which impacted my sleep, but I still could not walk 9 holes of the golf course without experiencing severe pain and would end up limping of the course, feeling that I really was heading down a cul-de-sac. Since working with Professor Griffin, just over 12 months, we have eliminated hip pain (98%), can workout in the gym 6/7 mornings, play golf as much as I want, and I dropped 7 shots from my handicap (HCI = 10.4). The surprising thing; this was achieved without surgery! When I first decided to attend a hip surgeon, I wanted to find someone who helped their patients return to active lifestyles and had a strong track record of achievement. A friend of mine recommended Professor Griffin based on his work with a Leinster and Ireland international rugby player. When I first researched Professor Griffin I was immediately impressed with his diagnostic approach and philosophy. While at the time, I had resigned myself to the fact that I most likely needed a hip resurfacing or total replacement, I wanted to be confident that was the case. When Professor Griffin first reviewed the imaging of my left hip with me, it did not look good. I could clearly see the degeneration and bony growths causing hip impingement. My cartilage was not in great shape either. I thought “well, that’s that”. But Professor Griffin did a detailed physical and movement assessment, and was surprised at how well the joint was still moving and maintaining stability. We agreed to do follow-up examination of the hip under anaesthetic, and do a hyaluronic acid (HA) injection in addition. This procedure was so interesting (and easy). After the anaesthetic, Professor Griffin had me work with his physio to do a number of movements that we had tested prior and confirmed pain to be active or not active. When I repeated those same movements I was able to immediately notice a major portion (or flavour) of the pain had disappeared, but some pain remained. This was key, as my exercise regime in the following weeks was aimed at avoiding movement that caused the pain that was eliminated by the anaesthetic. I then focused on strengthening the hip in movements that caused the pain that remained. The HA injection was also very successful for me. It seemed to give me a pain-free buffer during that critical time to build better strength and stability in the joint. After two weeks I started to notice improvement and gradually increased volume and intensity of activity. After 6 months, I had a follow-up review. Professor Griffin recommended a top-up injection to further preserve the joint, and connected me with a world-renowned golf biomechanics expert. I did a 3D biomechanics assessment of my movement pattern i.e. walking and golf swing. It showed and explained what I was experiencing. In my gait, I was not pronating my left foot properly and in my golf swing I was not transferring my weight to the left side properly. It turns out this was not a physical limitation, it was mental. I had so much mental scar tissue from years of pain with my left hip, I had not retrained my brain to say “it is ok” to put weight on my left side. I am so thankful to Professor Griffin for taking this approach with me and guiding me to this point. It is not the approach you expect when you commit yourself to working with a surgeon. It is however a rare example of what the future of good surgery practice looks like and I would recommend with strong confidence that if you have a hip issue, no matter the severity, try to work with Professor Griffin to help you overcome the challenge and get back to pain free, active living.

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Written by a private patient at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital

It was an honour to meet and be cared for by Professor Griffin, as a 31 year old male I first noticed I had hip issues after a long hike. As time went on this progressed to more aching, heavy restriction and caused me to walk with a limp after long periods of being on my feet. I went to see a Dr at a Bupa facility who was a specialist in Sports Injuries and explained what had happened. I had an initial MRI which had confirmed I had osteoarthritis in my left hip. I had played basketball to a high level throughout my youth and early 20's and this high impact on my dominant jumping leg had left me with this issue. The Dr at the Bupa facility referred me to Professor Griffin and in his words said 'I would trust this guy with my own family' and that really is the truth. My career as a pilot meant I had to stop working due to the restriction in my hip and the safety of my flying which has really put a halt on my life. Professor Griffin reassured me in our first consultation that he would get me back to where I was and his calm nature and professionalism really reassured me after just speaking to him. He talked me through the procedure and that a hip resurfacing was the way to go being as young as I am and having an active lifestyle as opposed to a total hip replacement. He informed me that he wouldn't do the operation unless he was sure he could give me the quality of life and be able to do what I want to do in terms of sport and exercise in the future. I underwent a few more scans before the operation and pretty quickly we were near the operation date. In that time my hip had regressed even further to the point it was a struggle to put my shoes and socks on and most nights I would wake up in agony with a constant ache inside my hip. I am a keen cyclist as well as being a basketball player and I was at the point around 3 months before the operation that I couldn't really even cycle any longer as the pain just wasn't worth it let alone I hadn't picked up a basketball in 2 years. On the day of the operation Professor Griffin came in and walked me through everything that I wanted to know about the day. I really wasn't at all nervous going in because it had been explained to me so well by Professor Griffin exactly what he was going to do and with talking to people in person who had worked with him everybody had told me that he's the best guy for the job. After the surgery I was in St John & St Elizabeth for 4 days. The initial 2 weeks is very sore lots of swelling, scar tissue and pain from the wound itself but I'm now 3 weeks on and I am noticing how much better I am even 3 weeks after the operation. I'm no longer waking up in pain and I'm already starting to see the difference in my mobility. I couldn't be more thankful to Professor Griffin he does not treat you as a patient of his he wants to get to know you and learn who you are as a person. I couldn't recommend him to anybody who is suffering with hip related issues enough.

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Written by a private patient at The Harley Street Specialist Hospital

I came to see Prof Griffin after an MRI confirmed that I had a labral tear in my right hip which was preventing me from running. The pain in my hip meant that I was no longer able to compete as a triathlete as I was struggling to train effectively and even cycling in an aero position was a problem. I was very apprehensive about having any invasive procedure and had considered that my triathlon career might be over. However, Prof Griffin was very calm and reassured me that it would be possible to run again. We carried out a range of tests to identify/confirm the issue before proceeding with any surgery. After having surgery and completing the rehab, I am able to run again and have been amazed at how well I have recovered. It is as if the injury never occurred. Thank you!

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