What does the hip joint mean to you?
It means years of dedication and vocation, years of study, personal and professional development. A true passion towards our last articular frontier.
Last frontier?
Years ago, many did not believe our approach – and denied to themselves and their patients – the existence of certain pathologies that today are a reality and we can treat them arthroscopically. In the 1930s, several papers were published that concluded that it was impossible to access this joint. We have not only been able to access it, but also to improve the access techniques, minimizing risks and complications, decreasing the surgical time and the recovery process dramatically.
Are you a crazy innovator?
I am a non-conformist optimist, who believes in what he does, who wants to learn and improve every day that passes, who does not give up in the face of difficulty and who has the ability to treat each patient with the right techniques to improve their quality of life and prevent the progression of their injury. Crazy about work and dedication, honesty and professionalism. To innovate and be creative you have to be a little “crazy”.
Reviewing your résumé, we are surprised by your activity and your capacity for development. Do you never stop?
I have been very fortunate to be able to dedicate myself to this vocational and passionate work. I have inherited from my parents the capacity for work and service, from whom I have learned so much in this life, and therefore it is not my merit, but theirs, who sowed in me what has grown with time. It only remains for me to give what I have received, to teach and share, to never forget my beginnings and all those who bet on me. Life goes on and every day that begins, you have to get up where you have fallen and move forward. We can not be satisfied with what we know or have developed, we must continue to move forward on this path in order to offer better results and better solutions to each of our patients. This undoubtedly leads us to be one of the best centers internationally in treating the different pathologies of the hip.
You surprised us a few years ago with your “out inside arthroscopic hip” technique. What are you working on now?
This is a beautiful adventure that has allowed me to open other doors in my professional life, to assist and train other colleagues from all over the world, to travel to different international hospitals practicing and developing my knowledge, training personnel who will be able to treat these pathologies all over the world in the future. You have the great satisfaction of being able to share your experience and knowledge with others. Being an international reference center year after year is not easy, since it implies offering a high level of demand and work. We receive cases from all over the world, who come looking for a solution to their hip joint problem. This makes us have to be at the forefront of innovation and give the best of each one of us.
Let’s talk about your current work, focused on hip joint reconstruction and preservation. What exactly is it about?
My constant struggle is currently focused on early diagnosis of mechanical hip injuries and which diagnostic methods are the most effective. We are pioneers in the use of a Free4Act pelvic sensor which, placed in a belt on our patient, provides us with all the necessary information about the way of walking, length of each step, weight exerted in each one of them, mobility of the hip in all its axes, tilting and rotations of the pelvis and a whole series of parameters to be able to understand the three-dimensional and dynamic aspect of this complex joint. The cause of the injury must be diagnosed and corrected. If the diagnosis is not made early, patients come to us with wear and tear lesions in their cartilage and their surgical prognosis worsens. We are one of the three centers in Spain that can treat this type of lesions with mesenchymal cells that are placed as a graft in the area where the chondral defect is evident and the help of an accelerator/stimulator of hyaline cartilage growth. This is undoubtedly a big step in today’s surgery, because we are able to repair and regenerate the damaged cartilage. This is our current goal: the preservation of the hip in its natural state, because we are able to treat complex injuries without the need to implant a prosthesis.
And in case of severe injuries?
Seventy-five percent of osteoarthritis of the hip is due to a mechanical problem, not a traumatic one. In other words, if they had been diagnosed early, they could have been adequately treated arthroscopically. Some patients come to us when advanced degeneration is already present in their joint. We are working along this path together with an international team on a new device, Hip balloon, which, implanted arthroscopically in the hip, can restore the quality of life of our patients. It is undoubtedly a hopeful and innovative way forward. These techniques, together with those already developed in our center, such as labral transplants and grafts, safe and direct access to the subgluteal space and the ability to treat lesions of the pyramidal and sciatic nerve, allow us to continue doing our bit to overcome all these pathologies that affect our patients and their lives.