It started with searing pain with squats at the gym. The team trainer’s best guess: An injury to my youngest’s son’s hip labrum, a rim of soft tissue or fibrous cartilage that surrounds the socket of a joint to make it more stable. An x-ray followed by an exhaustive measurement of motion, an MRI, another thorough examination of rotational ranges, a steroid shot with the longest needle I’ve ever seen, and a CT scan later, we think we know what’s going on. According to Yale Medical School, “Femoroacetabular impingement,” or FAI, is “a condition in which one or both bones of the hip joint are irregularly shaped, causing them to rub against one another. The friction between these bones can cause tears in the labrum and damage the articular cartilage, which may increase the risk for osteoarthritis.” Wish the kid who grew up with the nickname “Bruiser,” to which he’s more than lived up, the best of luck. The fine sports orthopedists at Scottish Rite assure us we’ll know whether surgery is in the cards within 10 days when the CT scan results deliver a definitive diagnosis.
In the meantime, as many of us know, that steroid shot straight to the hip provided a welcome and immediate relief. If only we could just as simply numb the pain the data docket is inflicting. Like a socket without sufficient shock absorption, the economic calendar has been a stubborn source of irritation in recent weeks. Not even a stock market holiday could halt the needling. Such was the reality of Wednesday morning’s latest installment from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). If you’ll pardon, we don’t give near as much quarter to builders’ views on the future sales as we do to actual foot traffic.