Lavigne wants a career as an artist and jewelry maker but relentless pain in her left hip had her feeling hopeless about the future.

"I didn't know what I was going to do with my life," said Lavigne.

She went to lots of doctors who ordered bed rest and strong painkillers, but the crippling pain never let up.

"It only felt okay when I was lying down, so I couldn't go to school or do anything really, go to the mall or do anything fun."

At Children's Hospital of Boston, Dr. Young-Jo Kim suspected Lavigne had a newly identified condition called Hip Impingement.

"The hip is basically a ball and socket joint and, if the ball portion is misshapen and it impinges, it doesn't move properly within the joint," said Dr. Young-Jo Kim, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. "The prominence in the hip bone that causes the impingement is up in front and, as the hip flexes and turns in, it runs into the front part of the socket."

Advances in imaging technology and surgical techniques are helping doctors recognize and treat hip impingement more easily.

"We could actually see what the shape abnormality is and actually trim bone to make the hip as spherical as possible," said Kim.

Lavigne's hip finally "fit" and the pain was gone.

"I got to go to school my whole senior year and I get to do stuff. I get to go shopping and go to the beach," she said.

Now she can do everything she wants to do. The cause of hip impingement is not known but it is now believed to be a major cause of hip pain in young adults. Kim says the shape abnormality is mostly found in young adult males who have been active in sports.