The Tragically Hip: Revisiting an Unfortunately Popular Injury

Ask a layman like myself what a hip injury means and the first thing that comes to mind would be the fragile pelvis bones of our elderly relatives and how dangerous they can be when they suffer accidental falls. But talk to the training staff of a big league team about hip injuries and you're likely to hear tales of woe involving serious muscle tears to star players. In fact, to call 2009 the "year of the labrum" would be an affront only to those folks who call 2009 the "year of the oblique". Somehow, every player who goes down with the hip ouchie seems to be a high-profile guy on a high-profile East Coast team. So let's find out exactly what is hip with these recent victims: Mike Lowell, 3B, Red Sox: The news that Walkoff Walk favorite Mike Lowell went on the deel spurred this fancy listicle. After a painful 2008, Lowell had hip surgery in the off-season but continued to suffer this year, enough to have him on the shelf for a couple weeks to rest hi...