I'm a young adult, why should I come to CHOP?

Why should you choose the Young Adult Hip Preservation Program instead of a doctor who treats adults? Because we are national experts in treating hip disorders that you may have been born with or developed during childhood.

For some people, a hip disorder doesn't become problematic or painful until adulthood, but it often stems from an underlying pediatric hip condition. The causes and treatment for these disorders require the knowledge and expertise of doctors who—like those at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)—understand the full developmental spectrum of the human hip joint.

If you go to an adult doctor complaining of serious hip pain, many surgeons will suggest a hip replacement. At CHOP, we aim to reconstruct and enhance your natural hip and hip socket to prolong the function of your natural hip. By doing this, we can decrease the need for an artificial hip replacement now and in the future.

CHOP's Young Adult Hip Preservation Program has the experience, expertise and comprehensive care to change your life.

Our experience

CHOP’s Young Adult Hip Preservation Program is the largest and most comprehensive program in the region for adolescents and young adults with hip pain. Our surgeons, Wudbhav N. Sankar, MD, and Kathleen J. Maguire, MD, perform some of the most complex orthopedic surgical procedures in the world.

We have special expertise in hip preservation in adolescents and young adults to stop continued damage to bone and cartilage. By fixing your natural hip, our doctors can prevent the need for premature replacement with an artificial hip. Dr. Sankar has extensive specialized training in hip reconstruction for young adults and is the only physician in the region performing certain highly complex hip preservation surgeries on adolescents and young adults.

Our expertise

Our team of hip specialists is actively researching the conditions that cause hip deformities, investigating new surgical techniques and tracking long-term outcomes for patients with hip disorders.

Dr. Sankar, director of the Young Adult Hip Preservation Program, is an integral member of three major pediatric and young adult multi-center research groups, including the International Hip Dysplasia Institute (IHDI), the International Perthes Study Group (IPSG) and the Academic Network of Conservational Hip Outcomes Research (ANCHOR).

CHOP is a national leader in research on most hip conditions that affect young adults. Areas of active research include:

• Examining surgical outcomes for Ganz periacetabular osteotomy (PAO)
• Hip arthroscopy and surgical dislocation of the hip
• Evaluating the disease characteristics of conditions that require hip preservation
• Refining imaging techniques for avascular necrosis and early osteoarthritis

In addition, our hip specialists regularly collaborate with the Center for Applied Genomics at CHOP, one of the world's largest genetics research programs and the only center at a pediatric hospital to have large-scale access to state-of-the-art genotyping technology.

Our comprehensive care

The Young Adult Hip Preservation Program offers complete care for young adults with hip defects or injuries including evaluation, treatment and long-term, follow-up care.

We offer a full spectrum of diagnostic and imaging testing (MRI, CT scans and X-rays), and also use individualized, disease-specific imaging protocols that include cartilage mapping technology. By better visualizing the entire hip, our clinical team can provide a more accurate diagnosis and help guide surgical treatment if needed.