Stars F Jamie Benn undergoes second hip surgery in a week
Stars forward Jamie Benn went under the knife twice in the last week to help alleviate pain in his hips. He is expected to be able to resume skating in August and could be ready for the 2015-16 season.
By
Chris Peters
•
2 min read
Fresh off winning the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer, Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn went under the knife for the second time in a week. Benn completed the second of two hip surgeries Monday, according to the Dallas Morning News.
It is possible that Benn's procedures could end up costing him some playing time, but that appears unlikely at this point. The Stars say Benn will be ready to resume skating in August and could be ready for the regular season, assuming he recovers well enough according to the Morning News.
Benn is the fifth Stars player to have surgery on one or both of his hips in the last year. According to the Stars, the frequency of hip surgeries is no coincidence.
More from the Dallas Morning News:
It’s part of a philosophical change the Stars are embracing, one they believe will give them healthier players in the long run. Benn has suffered from femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), or bone spurs that form on the head of the femur. The spurs irritate and can cut the labrum in the hip socket, and that can cause pain. Benn battled through the pain with shots, off days and grit, but the surgeries should help prevent that going forward.
“They are starting to figure out a correlation between FAI, sports hernias, groin pain and labral tears,” [head athletic trainer Dave] Zeis said. “There’s no doubt we’re concerned, and we’re researching everything we can. I think you can attack it aggressively, or you can bury your head in the sand and say they are manageable, organizationally.
“The question is when do you intervene? We feel we have more information, and we feel we’re going to learn even more going forward.”
Other Stars to have had hip surgery (or surgeries) are John Klingberg, who had both hips done last season; Valeri Nichushkin, who missed almost all of the 2014-15 season; as well as Trevor Daley and Ales Hemsky, who each went under the knife this offseason.
According to the Morning News, following the success of Klingberg's procedures last year, 50 players within the Stars organization had hip X-rays during training camp. Of those X-rayed, 70 percent showed bone buildup, but the team won't be having every player go under the knife of course. Based on further results, perhaps this could become a medical trend in the hockey world.
It is pretty remarkable that Benn still won the league scoring title while needing a pair of hip surgeries. He did not miss a single game during the 2014-15 season and posted 87 points including four in the last game of the year to secure the prestigious trophy.
If he responds well to these surgeries, should we expect an even more effective Jamie Benn next fall? That’ll be scary to think about for the rest of the Western Conference next year.
[H/T ProHockeyTalk]
