'The pain in my body felt like barbed wire - then doctors told me my bone was dying'

'The pain in my body felt like barbed wire - then doctors told me my bone was dying'

A kitesurfer who thought a "barbed wire" stabbing pain in her hip was due to an old injury had a hip replacement-like op aged just 30. Georgina Monti, 30, noticed hip pain while kitesurfing and free-diving in September 2023.

Initially, she dismissed the niggle as an old injury and persisted until she was in agony unable to surf at all. In October 2024, Georgina went to the doctor for an MRI scan which showed her femoral head – the rounded top of the thigh bone that fits into the hip socket – had collapsed due to avascular necrosis - a condition where bone tissue dies due to a loss of blood supply.

Georgia says she was constantly told that a hip replacement was her only option. She then visited Cleveland