A hip labral tear is a tear in the ring of cartilage lining the socket of your hip joint.
Sometimes, hip labral tears display no signs or symptoms. However, when there are symptoms, they can include pain in the hip or groin. Other hip labral tear symptoms include:
- A locking, clicking or popping sensation
- Stiffness
- Limited mobility and range of motion
- A sensation that the hip is weak or wants to give way when bearing weight
- Groin pain and less often pain in the side of the hip or buttocks
Labral tears are often associated with other hip bone issues such as dysplasia and femoracetabular impingement, or FAI. Many times patients notice these conditions by the common symptom of a deep groin pain.
Labral cartilage can protect the hip from the onset of arthritis in the future. To repair a labral tear, the Orthopedic surgeon will remove the damaged tissue, while leaving healthy cartilage in place. This repair can be done arthroscopically, using small tools guided by a tiny camera through a small incision.
An Orthopedic surgeon will discuss if surgical labral tear treatment is right for you and what options may be available. Physical therapy may also help you strengthen your hip after surgery.
Hip surgery patients who have received arthroscopic treatment often begin recovery using crutches to get around for the first couple weeks after surgery, but they may require at least 6 weeks without weight-bearing. Multiple weeks of physical therapy are required, and lingering post-operative hip pain can occur over several months.
Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome
The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus (abductors) are two muscles which can be subject to injuries or stress. This can cause pain on the lateral side or the outside of the hip. These muscles help rotate the thigh bone and keep the hip and pelvis stable when your foot is on the ground.
This can become more difficult when there is damage to the abductor tendons that connect these muscles to either side of the hip joint. The tendons can become irritated or inflamed, causing pain. Additionally, inflammation of the fluid over the abductor tendons can occur and this is called “trochanteric bursitis.”
Trochanteric bursitis and trochanteric pain syndrome are common conditions that are often treated with physical therapy and sometimes injections. On rare occasions surgery is performed when non-surgical treatment is not effective.