Professor Damian Griffin OBE TD VR BM BCh MA MPhil FRCS(Tr&Orth) 2024-04-06 Person 5 5 0

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 :)