HIP CHECK

BY THOMAS CONNORS THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

Joint pain. If you don’t suffer from it, chances are you know someone who does. And it’s not just that nice grayhaired lady with the cane who lives down the block. One in four adults— and around 300,000 children—are dealing with arthritis afflicting the hips, knees, shoulders, hands, feet, and spine. And physical discomfort is just part of the story. Joint pain and arthritis are leading causes of emotional stress, mental illness, lost hours at work, and opioid addiction. For orthopedic surgeon Dr. Benjamin Domb, finding the cure for arthritis and joint pain is his life’s work and he has committed “to use whatever abilities I have to the greatest, positive impact.” Dr. Domb is the founder of the American Hip Institute—the first clinic in the nation dedicated to the cutting-edge treatment of hip problems—and the nonprofit American Hip Institute Research Foundation, whose mission he describes as “alleviating human suffering by revolutionizing the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of joint pain.”

Raised in Toronto, Dr. Domb played basketball as a Princeton undergrad, and, after earning his medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completing his residency in orthopedic surgery at Cornell University Hospital for Special Surgery, he began a career in sports medicine. He landed in L.A., where he cared for Los Angeles Lakers, Dodgers, Kings, and Galaxy players. After he and his wife Anna relocated to Chicago (they live with their three children in Glencoe), he continued his work with athletes, serving as Head Team Physician for the WNBA Chicago Sky and treating members of the Chicago Bulls and Bears as well as professional athletes who fly to Chicago from around the country to see him.

Witnessing the increasing specialization in the medical field, Dr. Domb launched the equivalent of a full-court press when it came to addressing hip issues. He first established the American Hip Institute Research Foundation, a nonprofit that pursues innovation and the dissemination of research, and later the American Hip Institute clinic, which offers a range of surgical treatments for the preservation and restoration of hip function. “The goal is to prevent or cure joint pain. We’re using the hip as a model for how to do that, but our goal is to extend our approach to treating all joints of the musculoskeletal system. All of the treatments at the Institute ride on the research done at the Foundation,” explains Dr. Domb. “So every move we make, every treatment we discuss with patients, is backed by proven data and research that we have published.”

The work of the Foundation is built on a triad of early diagnosis, preventative treatment, and curative surgery. “Hip replacement is the last resort,” says Dr. Domb. “The goal is to get ahead of the deterioration of the joint, and essentially stop arthritis before it starts.” With that aim, Dr. Domb and his colleagues pursue advances in regenerative medicine, using cell therapy to promote the natural healing of tissue. The Foundation has been at the forefront of spreading awareness leading to early diagnosis and has developed a preventative arthroscopic procedure to repair a joint before it develops arthritis. The procedure is a minimally invasive, outpatient method in which physicians insert a cameraguided tool through small incisions to diagnose and repair damage. For cases when curative surgery is needed, Dr. Domb has also pioneered the use of robotic hip surgery and was the first surgeon in the country to perform robotic hip replacement as an outpatient procedure.

“Our team of researchers at the Foundation has not only been instrumental in the development of these procedures but has helped teach these techniques to the orthopedic community around the world. By educating thousands of surgeons, each of whom treats thousands of patients, we hope to affect the lives of millions of people suffering from joint pain,” says Dr. Domb. “The American Hip Institute, our treatment arm, represents a new level of specialization—because specialization begets excellence. That specialization makes it possible for our surgeons to be amongst the most experienced in the world in these highly technical procedures. We’re getting professional athletes back to their sport and middle-aged pickleball players back on the court.”

For more information, visit americanhipinstituteresearchfoundation.org and americanhipinstitute.com.