| Re: Diagnosing labral tear or just inflamation
I have just been diagnosed with a torn hip labrum. Here is what I have learned so far:
1. Most ortho's are NOT trained in repairing torn hip labrum's. The surgery to fix a torn labrum has only been around about 10 years. In the Dallas, TX area where I reside, there are only 3 surgeons trained to do the repair orthoscopically, i.e. without an incision.
2. A torn hip labrum cannot repair itself on it's own, as 97% of the labrum does not have a blood supply.
3. You DO want a sports orthopedic specialist that is trained in hip labrum repair surgery, NOT a general ortho and NOT an ortho that is trained in joint replacement.
3. An unrepaired torn hip labrum will lead to hip and potentially femure head damage, as the labrum acts as a "seal" to keep the joint fluid inside the hip, which provides the fluid pressure to keep the femure head/hip cartiledge spacing intact. In my case, my hip came crashing down so hard when my labrum tore that it gave me a stress fracture on the femure head.
4. Most torn hip labrums are diagnosed using a contrast hip/pelvic MRI. The leakage of the contrast fluid from the hip joint into the body cavity is what they look for, unless the tear is so large (as it was in my case) it can be seen on a regular pelvic MRI.
5. A hip MRI is not as extensive as a pelvic MRI, it does not show as much of the body cavity. It was when they did a 3rd MRI on me, and this time a pelvic MRI, that they found the tear on me. The doctor described mine as similar to a blown gasket, where the hip joint fluid was blowing the tear outward while pushing hip joint fluid into my body cavity.
Hope this info helps. I am on a 6 week waiting list for an surgical eval by two of the three specialist in the Dallas area. I will post again as I learn/discover more.
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