Hip injuries in sports

The New York Times reports today that some trainers and physicians believe that increased training for leg strength to reduce knee injuries has resulted in an increase in hip injuries.  The story, by Michael S. Schmidt, states that some experts believe “the increasing number of children playing sports at younger ages has led to more instances of improper bone development.”    Dr. Bryan T. Kelly, a surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, is quoted saying, “I get 40 hockey players in a six-week period at the end of the season all coming into my office with the same-looking bone structure in their hips, all saying that they have been skating since they were 3 years old … I believe we are seeing some consequences from having our kids over the past few decades playing sports more at younger ages.”   Schmidt acknowledges that only anecdotal evidence exists at this point regarding the increased number of hip injuries.  He also quotes Christopher Powers, a biokinesiologist at the University of Southern California, who is skeptical of the claim that new training regimens have caused more hip injuries: “It’s not like workouts have changed all of a sudden; it doesn’t explain it … People and doctors are just more aware of it diagnostically. We’ve always had hip problems; now we are just finding it better.”