“Honestly, because it was my hip that was injured, there really was not much I was able to do.”

On Friday, Oct. 7, sophomore Jade Blake had an operation on her hip to fix an injury that has kept her out of sports for about six months.

Blake had been experiencing pain in her hip for about two years. Too much physical activity caused sharp, unbearable pains in the area. Earlier this  year, she finally went to a doctor who informed her that she fractured parts of the cartilage in her hip and on top of that she tore her labrum.

The labrum in the hip is a piece of cartilage along the rim of the hip socket. It cushions the hip joint and allows mobility. When the labrum is torn, it becomes painful for the person to make a lot of movement. The leg attached to that hip becomes stiff. A torn labrum can happen when a person makes a repetitive motion that causes the cartilage to wear down.

When asked about how she felt about the surgery, Blake responded, “honestly, very nerve racking… all I could think of is what might go wrong.” With this procedure, there is a possibility of damage to the hip joint or to the nerves surrounding the joint. There are also risks of infection, causing blood clots in the legs. These possible complications would lead to Blake being out of sports possibly forever.  

Once the surgery was over with, Blake was relieved: “Everything went amazing and my doctors were awesome!”

Blake has been an athlete since childhood. She plays soccer and runs both indoor and outdoor track. All three sports include a lot of running, so her hip has affected her success for the past few years. Blake could not run for long periods of time without pain.

The news about Blake’s injury cut her her outdoor track season short last school year.  Her track coach, Brian Walsh, said, “I was disappointed to hear that Jade could no longer participate in track and field. She’s a great kid with a great personality.”

In addition to this, Blake is out of all sports this school year. “It has also prevented me from staying in shape as well as being able to play soccer and upcoming indoor and outdoor track this year,” she said.

So what has Blake been doing in the meantime? Last spring, Blake continued to support her track team. Walsh explained, “Even though she couldn’t compete she was still there to support the team at all times.” Walsh feels as though “an athlete like that is always someone that you want to have on your team.”

This fall, she has been managing the girl’s Junior Varsity A soccer team. This way, she can continue to support her team and learn what to expect when she returns to soccer next year. Blake said her experience as manager has “been amazing.” She describes her team as positive and supportive. “They always help me with simple things like carrying bags or helping me up stairs.”

Girls on the soccer team miss playing with Blake. Emily Lima feels that Blake “always makes practice fun.” However, she has still been contributing to the team. Lima says “she helps with practices even though it’s not mandatory and she comes to all of the games even though she just had surgery.”

Blake’s recovery is expected to take about two or three months. Blake said that originally the doctors told her it would take between four and six months, but they cut it short because the surgery went so well.