Hello, my name is Cianna and I am a competitive dancer. Dance is my entire world and hip dysplasia temporarily took dance out of my life.

It all started November of 2019 when I was turning and heard a loud pop. As a dancer I am used to having things pop and crack. But in my 12 years of dancing, I had never heard a pop like that one. I struggled going up the steps, and when I finally finished what seemed like a huge task I said to my mom, “something is really wrong, I am going to need surgery.” Three days later I went to dance, and I was going to dance through the pain. An hour into what was supposed to be a five-hour dance day, I went home because I was in too much pain.

We went to an orthopedic doctor, and he thought that I had a torn quadricep and hamstring muscle. We did physical therapy for 4 weeks to see if that relieved my symptoms. Those few weeks without dance was super hard for me because that was my outlet. I had no idea that dysplasia was the thing preventing me from doing what I love. 4 weeks later, everything was still the same, so we got a MRA (MRI arthrogram) which showed my legs in greater detail. The orthopedic doctor knew that there was a torn labrum, but little did we know that hip dysplasia was the cause. Some days in school, walking from one hallway to another seemed like an impossible task.

We went to 4 orthopedic surgeons specializing in hips and they found my dysplasia. After all 4 of those opinions we went to Boston Children’s for a fifth opinion. Dr.Kim is going to do an LPAO and a scope to fix my torn labrum. In the meantime, I am doing physical therapy to build strength before the PAO. My number one goal is to get back to dance with a strong hip when my body allows. Although I still have a long journey ahead, I hope my story can help inspire others and spread awareness. I have met so many amazing PAO warriors and their perseverance shows that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.