By  Shane Dowd, CES, CMP

The Hip Impingement Holy Grail: The Proven 7-Step Protocol That Fixed My Hips

In 2011, I was in agony, my hip a twisted knot of pain and dysfunction… 

Every step was a struggle, every movement a reminder of the imagined deterioration happening inside my joint. 

My doctor was blunt: “This looks bad,” she said, reading my X-ray and MRI scans. 

“I’ll put you in contact with a surgeon right away.”

“Without it, your labral tear will turn into arthritis, arthritis will turn into degeneration, and you’ll be facing a lifetime of disability and suffering.”

The message was clear. And it wasn’t just the Doctor saying it. Another expert told me:

“Don’t be an idiot. Go. Get. Surgery.”

But the thought of going under the knife filled me with dread, especially after hearing tales of failed hip surgeries and long, painful recoveries.

That's when fate intervened. I met Matt, a man who used to be a track & field coach and sports performance specialist. He'd worked with Olympic bobsledders and NFL prospects. 

But, here’s the kicker–he’d ALSO been through the wringer with hip surgeries—five of them, to be exact. His first four were disasters, each one leaving him more broken and discouraged than the last.

Matt's hip saga led him to study how to deeply recover from hip pain. One fateful day in 2011, as I was emailing him a laundry list of all my pains and injuries, he said: 

“Look…I’ve been through what you’re dealing with, and surgery is not the answer. I can help you.”

From that day forward, and for the next 365+ days, he took me under his wing and shared his wisdom with me. It was like a beam of light piercing through the darkness of my despair.

Although Matt didn’t define his process this clearly, I saw the roadmap he was teaching me over time. It was so simple it could fit on 1 tiny piece of paper. 

I now call it my “Holy Grail” of hip impingement because it literally saved my hips and allowed me to regain my active, athletic life – without surgery.

Discover the 7-Step Protocol That Saved My Hip

Matt's "Holy Grail for Hip Impingement" helped me start to progress much faster than the traditional physical therapy I’d tried before. It consisted of seven key pillars:

Pillar #1: “Targeted Tissue Work

This was NOT a fluffy massage from the local masseuse. This was NOT generic foam rolling. 

This WAS the same kind of deep, precision massage he prescribed to his elite athletes. The only difference was that I learned how to do it to myself. 

Pillar #2: Strategic Stretching

This was NOT just any old stretching but stretches for my unique hip condition. Matt told me this was important because commonly prescribed stretches like hip flexor stretches can sometimes make things worse in athletes with hip impingement.

These athletes often also suffer from anterior femoral glide or other types of hip pain, like hip flexor strains. That’s why the Yoga classes I’d been trying in a desperate attempt to make my stiff hips more flexible didn’t work. 

“Yoga is just a group stretching class,” Matt growled. You need more strategic stretches, something tailored to you.” 

Pillar #3: Re-Education

Matt was big on serious Strength & Motor Control Training. Not just the namby-pamby glute bridges and bird dogs that all the average physical therapists prescribe. He’d been through all that before his 5 hip surgeries.

“Those can be a starting point,” he said. 

But to truly unlock the hip joint fountain of youth, you need:

• precise

• progressively overloaded strength training 

• that is extremely well-coached 

• by someone who knows what it's like to live with hip impingement. 
  

Pillar #4: Mindfulness & Lifestyle

Matt was the first to admit he was a little OCD. His attention to detail with my lifting and mobilizing techniques was next level. This precise coaching led to a much higher level of mindfulness and positive lifestyle changes than I would have had without his guidance. 

When I later got into Vipassana meditation and started meditating 2 hours a day (for the last decade), this mindfulness led to a 10x increase in my body awareness and my ability to keep my joints healthy despite my hip impingement, labral tear, and bone cysts.

Pillar #5: The "Better Every Day" System

Matt insisted I send him tons and tons of videos. For almost a year, we sent regular videos back and forth because I was in California and he was in Boston. I didn't realize it then, but each of those videos was a 1% improvement that helped me get better every day. 

Plus, this was the most consistent year of my life. I never missed a mobility session or a strength session. 

At first, the gains were small, but eventually, they compounded into massive (seemingly overnight) changes in my body and abilities.

To the point that, despite my "bad bone shapes," I could do the front, middle, pancake splits, and head-to-toe stretch—four feats of flexibility that less than 1% of people ever achieve, much less someone with my genetic and structural disadvantages.

Pillar #6 Specialized Pain-Relief Tools

When Matt's elite athletes were injured, he didn't send them to get a light, fluffy massage. He sent them to a precise, deep-tissue massage specialist who works with athletes. Or he taught them how to mimic what that therapist did on their own bodies. 

But to do what the highly skilled therapists did on their own bodies, they needed specialized tools. These specialized tools (and the knowledge about how to use them) are the only way to do what Matt called "Tissue Work," aka Precision Massage. When I learned these skills, I realized this was the closest thing I'd ever found to "instant pain relief."

Pillar #7: 1-on-1 Help from a Hip Specialist Who's "Been There"

Even though Matt had been through the wringer with ALL the recovery systems out there, from PRI to FRC to FMS and beyond, he was NOT sold on any of them. 

“Yeah, they’ve got some good ideas…but none of them have lived through what I’ve lived through, man,” he told me one day. 

In his typical gruff and direct way of speaking he told me:. 

“You gotta get your hips f*ing stronger and more mobile, dude. And that takes work, not just blowing into a balloon or doing low-level activation exercises.”

Matt also did not believe in the local generic PT down the street. 

“The average physical therapist in your local neighborhood is well intentioned, but just reciting from a textbook. They are rarely someone who's suffered from the same problem you and I are dealing with,” he explained to me. “You need someone who is the real deal.” 

Unfortunately, since my time with Matt, I’ve seen that many internet gurus, mobility gurus, and physical therapists fall into this category. They are nerdy scientists lecturing birds on how to fly. Their big, fancy words SOUND good, but, as Matt told me, the bottom line is:

“If you ain't lived it, don't REALLY know what it’s like.” 

Imagine a Life Free from Hip Pain and the Fear of Surgery

I threw myself into Matt’s protocol with everything I had. I strengthened my hip muscles, stretched my tight tissues, and nourished my joints with targeted tissue work and strategic stretching and strengthening. I modified my activities in the short term, cut out the things that caused me pain and focused on the movements that brought me joy.

It wasn't easy, and there were days when I wanted to give up. But I kept going, fueled by the hope Matt's wisdom gave me. 

Slowly but surely, my hip began to heal. The pain lessened, and my mobility increased. I started to feel like myself again, like there was a future beyond the operating room.

Now, years later, I'm still following Matt's protocol. Albeit now only 5-15 minutes a day. I still have my FAI, my bad bone shapes, my labral tears, and my bone cysts. But I’ve got no pain or problems at all.

My hips are stronger, healthier, and more resilient than ever. And I'm back to doing what I love without fear of pain or further damage. I can lift weights, hike, bike, swim, play soccer, basketball, and frisbee, and even do the splits in every direction.

Thanks to Matt, and a few other key mentors along the journey, I feel like I've been given a second chance at an active, athletic life.

Don't Let Despair or Fear Cloud Your Judgment—Seek Out the Wisdom of Those Who Have Been Where You Are. 

If you're facing the prospect of hip surgery, don't let despair or fear cloud your judgment. Seek out the wisdom of those who have been where you are and found a way to heal. 

Look for a coach or mentor who has experienced the pain of FAI and emerged from the other side—someone who can guide you through a proven protocol for hip health and recovery step-by-step.

It will be challenging. It will take time, dedication, and hard work. But the rewards—a life free from pain, a body that can do all the things you love—are more than worth it. 

You just have to be brave enough to take the first step.

If you’re ready to take the first step with us, check out our Hip Fix™ 1:1 Coaching Program. In this program, you’ll follow the same 7-step protocol that healed my hips. 

You’ll also have a personal mentor who’s lived through the same hip problems as you. 

This is the exact pathway to getting better faster, just like I did. 

So, if you’re ready to get started, go to gotrom.com/vip and, as always, please remember, you’re just 1-step away from building (or rebuilding) your perfect body.