Hip labral tear

Diagnosis

Your doctor will record a history of your symptoms. Moving your leg, and particularly your hip joint, into different positions during the physical examination is necessary to check for pain and gauge your hip’s range of motion. The doctor may possibly need to observe your gait.

Imaging scans

A hip labral tear is seldom an isolated injury. Most frequently, damage to other hip-joint structures are present as well. When it comes to visualizing bone, X-rays are great. They can look for structural and arthritic conditions.

Detailed pictures of the soft tissues in your hip can be obtained using a Magnetic Resonance Arthrography (MRA). To make a labral tear easier to observe, MRA combines Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology with a contrast agent injected into the hip joint area.

Anesthesia injection

Hip pain may result from issues inside or outside the joint. Your doctor may advise administering an anesthetic by injection into the joint space. If doing this lessens your pain, the source of your pain is probably inside your hip joint.

Treatment

Your symptoms’ severity will determine the course of treatment. Conservative treatments like rest and limited activity can help some people recover in a few weeks, but for others, an arthroscopic procedure is required to repair the torn labrum.

Medications

Ibuprofen and naproxen sodium are examples of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications that help reduce inflammation and relieve pain. An injection of corticosteroids into the joint can also momentarily reduce pain.

Physical therapy

You can learn exercises from a physical therapist to expand the range of motion in your hip and develop hip and core strength and stability. You can learn from therapists how to prevent actions that strain your hip joint.

Surgery

Your doctor may advise arthroscopic surgery, in which a fiber-optic camera and surgical instruments are placed through small incisions in your skin, if conservative therapy fail to relieve your symptoms.

The surgeon may choose to remove the torn labrum or suture the torn tissue back together, depending on the reason and severity of the tear.

Surgery can include side effects such as infection, bleeding, nerve damage, and reoccurring problems if the repair doesn’t heal correctly. It often takes 3 to 6 months to resume sports.