Dr. Marc Philippon and the Foundation: A Perfect Fit
Steadman-Hawkins Research Foundation News, Summer, 2009
By Jim Brown, PhD, Executive Editor

Consider this scenario. You have successful practices in two states. You serve as a consultant to professional teams and leagues, and you treat high-profile athletes in multiple sports. You are on the faculty at a large, well-respected research university and you direct the sports medicine/hip disorders programs. You’ve already been recognized as one of the leading orthopaedic surgeons and hip specialists in the world, and you can live and work anywhere you like. You’re set for life, right?

Not if you are Marc Philippon, M.D., who left what many would consider a dream job to move his family to Vail and to become a partner in the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic and member of the Steadman-Hawkins community. Why?

“It was a perfect fit,” answers Dr. Philippon. “I had known Dr. Steadman (and Dr. Hawkins) for some time, and they been referring patients to me. I knew that Dr. Steadman was a great surgeon and a great innovator, and I was honored to become a part of the Clinic and Foundation. Dr. Steadman asked me to continue what I had been doing at the University of Pittsburgh and to keep developing the fellowship program I had in Pittsburgh with the same type of program here in Vail.”

“But probably the most important factor was the Steadman-Hawkins Research Foundation,” says Dr. Philippon. “It was well established and well-known in the orthopaedic medical community and around the world. I thought this position would allow me to do with hip disorders what Dr. Steadman had done with the knee.”

And then there are those Colorado mountains. “There were also the mountains, the skiing (Dr. Philippon and his wife, Senenne, both like to ski), the town of Vail, and the positive energy at the Clinic and Foundation,” he adds. “Everybody I’ve met is happy. They are willing to help, and everybody from the person at the front desk on seems to be happy to be here. It’s like a big family.”

Dr. Philippon is now a managing partner of the Clinic, a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee. “The decision to come to Steadman-Hawkins,” says Dr. Philippon, “turned out to be a very good idea.”

International Recognition
Dr. Philippon treats a variety of hip disorders, but much of the international recognition he has received comes from his innovative, arthroscopic treatment of a condition called femoroacetabular impingement. (Luckily for us, we’ll call it FAI from here on.) FAI, which affects 10-20 percent of the general population, is a developmental condition (not something that exists at birth) in which abnormally shaped bones of the hip rub against each other during movement. This repetitive action eventually damages the soft tissue in the area, particularly the articular cartilage, and damaged cartilage is hard to treat. Any sport that involves forceful rotation — golf, hockey, baseball, football, and soccer, for example — can compound the FAI problem.

“FAI is a disease of active people,” says Dr. Philippon. “It has been seeing us for many years, but we were not recognizing it. And until recently, we didn’t have a predictable treatment. Now we have a better understanding of the problem and better surgical techniques. Many people who might not have sought treatment earlier follow the example of professional athletes who have the procedure to correct FAI and return to their sports relatively quickly.”

Treating High Profile Athletes
Although Dr. Philippon and the other surgeons at Steadman-Hawkins don’t deliberately seek professional athletes as patients, the athletes find them. Dr. Philippon had already treated golfer Greg Norman and hockey great Mario Lemieux before coming to Vail, and more recent patients have included Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez.

“These people make a living with their bodies,” explains Dr. Philippon. “They try to go a place where they are safe and where they think they will have a good outcome. The word gets around to other elite athletes and then to the general public.”

Does he feel any added pressure treating high-profile athletes? “Not really,” answers Dr. Philippon. “I treat everyone like I would treat my parents and my family. The key is preparation. The work of the Foundation prepares us for any kind of surgery. If we are well prepared, it is easy to execute well. The goal of the Clinic, the Foundation, and the physician to is provide every patient with the best possible care.”

The Next Big Thing
Dr. Philippon’s vision for the injuries he treats and for the research of the Foundation extends beyond FAI. “I’m interested in the prevention and treatment of hip injuries, but also in figuring out a way to actually modify the course of cartilage damage. We need to make cartilage more durable. It will be difficult because every joint has specific cartilage, several layers of tissue, and a lack of blood supply. It’s very complex.”

There are other items on his already-full agenda. “Repairing the labrum (the ring of cartilage around the joint), reconstructing the labrum, treating cartilage injuries, and early detection are all in the future of hip injuries,” he says.

The Foundation and its surgical outcomes database are making Dr. Philippon’s work possible. “When I came in 2005, we didn’t have much of a database for hip injuries. Now we have 2,000 cases in our database and in five years we’ll probably have close to 4,000. Most importantly, we’ll have more answers in terms of the prevention of hip injuries and in the health of cartilage after FAI treatment.”

“If the Foundation’s research allows us to discover better prevention and better techniques to repair cartilage, it will have a huge impact. We’ll be able to help more people remain active as long as they want without having hip joints replaced.”

When — not if — that happens, it will truly have been a perfect fit for Dr. Philippon, the Foundation, and patients who want to keep their hips healthy.
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