Expert hip preservation care to live your best life—precision care for long‑term joint health.
The hip is a complex, deep joint
Whether from an underlying structural problem, or a new injury, hip pain affects adolescents, peak performance athletes, and active adults.
It is important to get a comprehensive evaluation of your hip to understand why it hurts.
What is Hip Preservation?
Hip preservation is an area of orthopedic surgery that keeps hips working well and delays the need for hip replacement, especially in athletes and younger active people with hip pain.
In the past 20 years we’ve learned much more about how hips move, and a small group of surgeons across the US now train in these advanced techniques.
These surgeries are for people with otherwise healthy joints who have pain from injury, mechanical problems, or structural issues. They can help prevent or delay arthritis and the need for a hip replacement.
Hip Preservation Surgery
Hip preservation surgery involves more than just hip arthroscopy. Sometimes multiple techniques are needed to fully address the hip problem.
Hip Arthroscopy
Minimally invasive surgery done with a camera, including labral repair and treatment of femoroacetabular impingement
Periacetabular Osteotomy (PAO)
Open surgery that corrects the shape and rotation of the hip socket for dysplasia or other conditions of the hip
Femoral Osteotomy
including FDO
Open surgery that corrects the rotation or shape of the thigh bone
Surgical Hip Dislocation
Technique that can be used for complex reshaping of the femoral head, or to repair complex problems inside the joint that cannot be reached by a camera (hip scope)
For example Perthes disease, SCFE
About
This website was created for hip preservation education because there is a lack of knowledge about pre-arthritic hip conditions in the medical community.
Not all hip problems can be treated with a hip scope. Sometimes this can actually make you worse.
Luckily, hip arthroscopy is just one tool in the toolbox to help you with your hip.
I specialize in Hip Preservation and our team’s goal is to provide comprehensive care for hip problems that arise in infancy through adulthood.
Bio
Alison Dittmer, MD is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with dual-fellowship training, including a dedicated year-long Hip Preservation Fellowship at the renowned Hospital for Special Surgery (2020–2021).
She specializes in complex adult and pediatric hip preservation, with advanced expertise in PAOs, pelvic osteotomies, femoral osteotomies, and hip arthroscopy.
Dr. Dittmer performs between 90-100 periacetabular osteotomies (PAOs) annually—making her the highest-volume PAO surgeon in the Minnesota.
She is a published author of scientific research and book chapters, and a frequent invited speaker at national, regional, and local orthopedic conferences on a wide range of hip preservation topics.
As a former collegiate athlete, practicing orthopedic surgeon, and mother of two, Dr. Dittmer brings a personal understanding of the importance of staying active, fit, and healthy—at every age and stage of life.
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Contact Us
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