Can I get back to my sport with if I have FAI, hip arthritis, labral tears, or some other hip diagnosis?

It’s common to hear that you should avoid certain sports or activities if you’ve been diagnosed with:

• Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI)
• Hip arthritis
• Labral tears
• Or really any hip-related issue

The logic usually goes like this:

"Your bone shapes are abnormal, so doing anything that aggravates your hip is causing permanent damage."

But if you’ve looked into the research, you’ll realize:

🔗 Bone shapes aren’t the problem

🔗 Surgeries to “fix” FAI fail with surprising regularity

🔗 Labral tears don’t consistently correlate with pain

🔗 Arthritis on imaging often has no connection to pain

What if I want to return to my sport?

Start by retraining your hips so that they are comfortable in your daily life. Make sure you have the strength and flexibility you need to get into all the positions your life and your sport demand.

When you've successfully used exercise to reduce your hip pain, there’s going to come a point when you want to return to the activities you love. And honestly? You should.

Avoiding activities that bring you joy is a recipe for frustration, sadness, and feeling stuck.

Yes, those activities might have contributed to your pain in the past—but that’s only because you didn’t know how to train your body to maintain balance alongside those movement patterns.

Now that you do, you can take a smarter approach.

Here's how I recommend getting back to your sport:

• Start slow. Don’t jump in at 100% right away.

  Reintroduce your activity at 50–60% intensity or duration.

• Observe how your body responds.

  Most sports are asymmetrical and repetitive. That means they naturally create imbalances.

  Your job now is to notice what feels off and use your knowledge of corrective exercises to restore balance.

• Don’t panic if something feels off.

  A little discomfort is just feedback—it’s not a guarantee of injury or damage. Learn from it.

With this approach, you’ll return to your sport smarter and more resilient. And you’ll know how to keep yourself healthy for the long run. 💪