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Originally published March 26, 2025
Last updated March 26, 2025
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For Traci Samczyk, 58, life is about challenging herself.
“I love seeing new things and pushing myself to new limits,” she says. “I have gone to every corner of the world to see the penguins in Antarctica, the lemurs in Madagascar and to dive with sharks in Mo’orea. Why not?”
Traci, a creative content producer and nonprofit founder from South Pasadena, has visited more than 80 countries and plans annual treks with her friends.
She was training for back-to-back hikes on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Dolomite Mountains in Italy when persistent hip pain threatened to derail her adventures.
Since childhood, Traci felt a bit off-balance. She says she often tripped, struggled with running and had pain in her feet.
“I’ve always had an unusual gait,” she says. “I would swing my legs out and to the front, and people have made comments about it since I was a kid.”
Traci never allowed her balance issues to slow her down. However, as she got older, she started noticing stiffness in her hips and knees after sitting for longer periods.
Then, in December 2022, while walking her neighbor’s dog, Traci tripped and hit her head against a tree. She got back up and initially appeared to be okay — until the following morning.
While reaching down to put on her socks, Traci experienced a sharp, stabbing pain in her left hip. She says it was unlike anything she’d felt before.
Traci initially tried physical therapy to ease the pain. A doctor also suggested platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, which involves using a patient’s own blood to help accelerate the healing process. Traci says the injections and physical therapy helped, but only temporarily.
“The pain came back and was spreading all the way down my leg and foot,” she says. “It would ache through the night and make it difficult to sleep.”
When the pain didn’t go away, one of Traci’s hiking friends suggested she call Jay Lieberman, MD, a total joint replacement specialist and chair of USC Orthopaedic Surgery, part of Keck Medicine of USC.
At their first meeting in May 2023, Dr. Lieberman told her she had bad osteoarthritis in her hip joint. He also had Gene Tekmyster, DO, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician with Keck Medicine, check out her spine to ensure it wasn’t causing extra problems.
After ruling out any spinal issues, Dr. Lieberman began treatment with more physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medication and a home exercise program that includes Pilates and a focus on core strength.
“We try to avoid surgery as long as we can maintain the patient’s quality of life,” Dr. Lieberman says.
Just two months later, Traci was feeling confident about continuing with the hikes in Africa and Europe. “Dr. Lieberman and Dr. Tekmyster both were like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’” Traci says. “I had these hikes planned for a long time and I wanted to do them.”
Before her trip, she says Dr. Tekmyster gave her an epidural steroid injection targeting the spinal nerves in her back, as well as an injection into her hip joint, which helped ease her symptoms. She completed both hikes — but by the time she flew home, she was limping and her hip ached constantly.
In her next visit with Dr. Lieberman, they decided a total hip replacement was her best option and scheduled the surgery for December 2023 at Keck Hospital of USC.
While preparing for surgery, Dr. Lieberman discovered why Traci had always had an abnormal walking gait. Scans revealed she had a variant of hip dysplasia, which occurs when the hip joint is partially or completely dislocated. Most patients are born with it, but Traci had never been diagnosed.
“This was the reason for her hip pain,” Dr. Lieberman says. “Her joint had developed abnormally, and she had a fair amount of bone loss.”
The dysplasia made Traci’s surgery more complex.
“For most people with arthritis, the hip is just degenerated,” Dr. Lieberman says. “But in Traci’s case, the hip went up and out from where it’s supposed to be. We needed to bring the hip back to its proper anatomic position, in addition to replacing the joint.”
Despite its complexities, Traci’s procedure was successful. She gets emotional describing how, a few hours after surgery, Dr. Lieberman visited her recovery room at about nine p.m. to help her take a few steps.
“I remember asking, ‘You’re the surgeon! What are doing here?’ He said he wanted to see how I was doing,” Traci says. “That meant the world to me, it really did.”
She adds that the entire team at Keck Hospital put her at ease. She says everyone communicated well and were perfectly in sync when it came to her care plan.
“We have created an efficient system of preoperative and postoperative management and we have the experience to manage very complex problems,” Dr. Lieberman says.
Traci spent less than 24 hours in the hospital. She followed Dr. Lieberman’s post-op instructions, including gentle exercises, moving with a walker and keeping her leg extended to allow the new hip to heal.
Her healing journey also involved adjusting to a new walking gait. Traci says that since Dr. Lieberman fixed the dysplasia, she feels more aligned and balanced.
Three months post-surgery, Traci was feeling back to normal and was cleared to resume heavier physical activity within six months.
“After a hip replacement, patients can lead very active lives,” Dr. Lieberman says. “Except for impact sports. I would not want them playing football.”
He says Traci’s new hip should last 25 to 30 years. Traci plans to take full advantage of it, planning hiking trips to Croatia and Rwanda.
“I’m so grateful for my hip replacement because it gave me my life back,” Traci says. “If you can give yourself the opportunity to live life more fully and find joy, then do it. You don’t have to live in pain.”
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