After hip surgery, ex-Las Vegas showgirl embraces second act

As Scarlett Grable watched the Les Folies Bergere showgirls dance at the Tropicana in 1985, she knew she had found her calling.

The 15-year-old high school dance student from Southern California was enthralled by the elegant outfits, fit physiques and synchronized dancing as she sat just a few feet from the stage with her family.

“I looked up and saw these girls dancing in these big costumes and I said, Those girls are going to be my friend one day. I wanted to dance in Les Folies Bergere, and that was the only reason I went to UNLV,” said Grable, who lives in the Paradise area.

Three years later, Grable achieved her dream, taking the stage as the youngest dancer in the show.

Grable, who followed in her mother’s dancing shoes, would go on to perform at about a dozen Strip shows over the next 15 years and made friends with the women she so admired.

It all ended quickly.

During the show “Skintight” at Harrah’s in November 2002, Grable said, she had to be carried off the stage.

Though she was just 33, the cartilage in both hip joints had worn away and the pain had become too much to bear. The years of dancing six days a week and completing more than 17o kicks a night had caught up with her.

“I knew when I walked in that night that I wasn’t going to be able to finish,” she said. “I knew it was the end. My hips couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted to dance until I couldn’t dance anymore, and that is exactly what I did.”

Doctors told Grable she would need hip-replacement surgery but recommended she wait it out as long as possible. Implants may only last 15 to 20 years, said Dr. Michael Daubs, chairman of UNLV’s department of orthopedic surgery. That means people in their 30s who have a hip replaced could need a second and even a third surgery over their lifetime.

Grable put off the surgery and started a new career as a real estate agent in the booming Las Vegas market. Though it was physically less demanding than dancing, walking for hours a day to show homes was still challenging.

By 2014, at age 45, the pain was bringing tears to her eyes, she said. That is when she committed to two hip replacements four months apart.

Daubs said Grable may have had a genetic predisposition or a malformation of the hip joint that was exacerbated by years of intense, repetitive physical activity. Grable said a few of her former colleagues have had either knee or hip replacements, though none had two, like her.

“Dancers put so much stress on their joints that when they are in their 30s, they show signs like any other professional athlete. They are just like a pitcher that is throwing, throwing, throwing,” Daubs said.

Because Grable is so young, she will eventually need a revision replacement, he said.

The surgery, which lasts one to two hours, is more difficult to perform the second time around and generally doesn’t go as well, Daubs said.

”There is less bone to work with,” he said.

Hip replacements can cost $20,000 to $50,000, Daubs said.

Grable said her two hip replacements came to about $80,000 but were covered under the Affordable Care Act. However, it did not cover physical therapy. She also lost income from the time off to recover.

Rehabilitation

Grable said she began her own rehabilitation program and works out five days a week, sometimes with a trainer, to rebuild her lower-body muscles.

She hopes to turn that experience into yet another new career; Grable said she is studying to become a personal trainer to work with people facing or recovering from similar surgeries.

“There is nothing for young people to help them deal with hip surgery. There was nothing for me to look at online,” she said.

Grable said she is pain-free but has had to alter her lifestyle.

She said she doesn’t park at some resorts because the walk to the casino is too long. She avoids crowded places for fear of being accidentally knocked to the ground and shattering her hips.

“I have to think about everything I do all the time,” she said. “Fremont (Street) is the last place I’d go, because drunk people can bump into you.”

Contact Todd Prince at 702-383-0386 or tprince@reviewjournal.com. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.