Jaclyn Sweetra

My journey started when I was 12 and I began having hip pain. I told my PCP, but as a dancer, it was chalked up to a strained muscle to tendonitis. The next year at my yearly check-in, I reported that my pain had worsened. I was sent to a local orthopedic surgeon who couldn't find anything wrong. That orthopedic surgeon was so unkind and unwilling to listen that she greatly damaged my faith in myself and the medical system. As I went through the rest of middle and high school, I saw many different doctors, none of which could find anything wrong. I felt like I must be making the pain up in my head, or that everyone feels this way and I am just weak. I tried to suck up all the pain in my hips, knees, and ankles.

When I graduated high school, I stopped dancing and hoped the pain would end. Instead, the pain migrated to include my lower back. It became unbearable. I could barely stand for a few minutes without feeling like my back was going to snap in half. Again at my yearly check-up, I told my new adult PCP, who referred me to a pain specialist. Nothing. He referred me to physical therapy. The physical therapy exercises made things worse. However, at PT, I learned that my back hurt so bad because of the way I was compensating in my hips. It reduced the pain in my hips, but increased the pain in my back. I went to a spine specialist, who confidently said the problem was my hips. So, I went to a hip specialist. She took one look at my legs and sent me for a CT scan. The CT scan showed anteversion of the femurs and retroversion of the tibias. An MRI showed a labral tear in my right hip. I was referred to a local orthopedic surgeon who ended up canceling due to COVID. Through some research, I found Dr. Rozbruch at HSS, along with a patient story that sounded just like mine.

Dr. Rozbruch listened to my lengthy medical history and validated me every step of this journey. He diagnosed me with Tetratortional Malalignment Syndrome, formerly named Miserable Malalignment Syndrome. Other doctors I've seen had never even heard of this diagnosis, but he knew right away. Dr. Rozbruch is a powerhouse in his field, a trailblazer and an absolute expert. I always felt comfortable in his hands and trusted his expertise and experience performing such a specialized surgery. Dr. Rozbruch's office was always responsive and flexible. They coordinated a time for surgery with Dr. Bryan Kelly to fix my torn labrum so I wouldn't need to go under anesthesia a separate time. Dr. Kelly's office was always kind and helpful, too.

Dr. Rozbruch gave me a new lease on life and a future that I wouldn't have had otherwise. I just had all my hardware out a month ago, and my pain is significantly decreased. So many things that seemed out of reach for me are now goals I can't wait to conquer. Not only that, but he taught me that my body was telling the truth the whole time, and that I need to trust what my body tells me and advocate for myself. I will FOREVER be grateful for Dr. Rozbruch and HSS. I hope other people can find my story and find their way to an expert like Dr. Rozbruch long before I did so they don't need to needlessly suffer at the hands of unaware medical professionals, as is the case for so many people who have Tetratortional Malalignment Syndrome.