Andrew Jimenez, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine and hip preservation.
Hip preservation, he explains, is applying operative or nonoperative techniques to treat non-arthritic hip pain with the goal of pain-free function and preventing a hip replacement in the future.
“Sports medicine surgery has historically focused on the shoulder and the knee, but the hip is the next frontier,” Dr. Jimenez says, adding that hip arthroscopy (a minimally invasive way to treat and diagnose hip joint problems) is becoming increasingly popular. “There has been an explosion in literature and huge advances in the surgical technology for this.”
Before hip arthroscopy became mainstream, it was a joint that was hard to access, Dr. Jimenez says. “People in their 30s or 40s would start to have hip pain, and we would think it was early arthritis. We would give them injections until they maybe needed a hip replacement sometime in the future,” he says. “But now, with greater understanding of the hip and better technology, we are able to make repairs, such as fix a labral tear or hip impingement.”
The best part of his job, Dr. Jimenez says, are the relationships he builds with patients. “Building trust with them at that initial visit is important. I always try to talk less and listen more to what the patient is saying in order to understand their goals, so we can determine treatment,” he says. “Whether it’s a high school athlete who wants to be ready for the season, or someone who just wants to be able to play with their kids, I’m a big believer in trying nonoperative approaches first.”
A wrestler in high school and college, Dr. Jimenez says he always appreciated the trainers and surgeons he came to know. “I never had any serious injuries, but I liked seeing how they could help athletes get back to their sport,” he says. “And now, I enjoy working with everyone from college athletes to weekend warriors who just want to get back to their activity, which is sometimes a part of their identity.”
Dr. Jimenez’s research interests include studying athletes and outcomes in hip arthroscopy. “There has been research on the general population, but less so in athletics and it’s important that we have a better understanding of the needs of athletes,” he says.
