For this blog I would like to introduce Shuana. Her story takes us away from the world of DDH and introduces us to SUFE, Slipped Upper Femoral Epiphysis, something I had never heard about till I found her through my Instagram. Hopefully sharing this story can help us spread the support even further.
Hi my name is Shauna and I’m 20 years old. Unlike most cases of young hip replacements that I came across when searching the internet - not that I could find many my age - I did not have DDH as a child. Instead my hip problems developed when I was 10 years old and had a Slipped Upper Femoral Epiphysis, SUFE, which resulted in a fracture after my left femur slipped. Before this I had minor joint pain which I dismissed as ‘growing pains’ etc and later found out it is hard to detect SUFE in a child before it fully slips due to the range of symptoms.
While in school I twisted quickly and the strain on my hip caused it to fracture.