In 2026, Bruges will host the Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society for Hip Preservation (ISHA). Alongside this major medical conference, ISHA wants to give something back to the city by offering free hip screenings to local 16‑year‑olds who play sport in schools and clubs.

Why focus on teenage hips?

Active teenagers can sometimes develop hip problems that are easy to overlook at first. These issues may cause pain, limit performance, or affect how long a young person can enjoy their sport. By checking hips early, specialists can give reassurance when everything looks normal, or recommend simple next steps if something doesn’t seem quite right.

This project builds on a successful pilot programme first run in 2023, whose results were shared at an ISHA meeting in South Africa. Since then, nearly 40 hip experts from around the world have worked together on a clear, agreed way to examine teenagers with hip symptoms. Bruges will be one of the first places where this new global screening approach is used with local school and club athletes.

What does a screening involve?

The screening is straightforward, safe and designed to fit around lessons and training:

• Each young person completes a short questionnaire about their sport, any hip or groin pain, and general health.
• A trained clinician then performs a focused check of hip movement and function, with appropriate supervision.

There are no needles, no injections and no treatments given on the day. The whole visit usually takes about 20–30 minutes.

If the team finds anything that might need more attention, they will inform the family (or coaches) and suggest where to seek further advice. Taking part is completely voluntary.

How is information kept safe?

Families and young people will receive clear information before any screening and will have the chance to ask questions. Personal details are kept securely by the local clinical team. For research purposes, results are anonymised so that individual participants cannot be identified. The information collected will help doctors better understand hip health in active teenagers and improve care for young athletes in the future and if consent is given anonymised data will be shared with ISHA to allow for global data comparison and specific research projects.