Forums >Health and Nutrition>Torn Hip Labrum - advice, recovery and experiences
Lush Extraordinaire
I just got a copy of the report. It's a labral tear.
5k - 23:30
10k - 49:00
Half - 1:48:34
Full - 4:01:28
Working toward hip nirvana.
Hip Redux
Aw, crap. Welcome to the club.
I am super bummed and also a little relieved to know that there is something wrong with me and it wasn't all in my head.
tomatolover
2 months ago I was diagnosed with a small torn hip labrum as well, but very different experience from you all. Mind you, I know nothing about labrums- what is small? Large? My doc's belief ( (and i don't know if I'm 100% with him on this at this time) is that MRIs have made it possible to see what was not possible to see years ago and that small labrum tears are perhaps overdiagnosed and over treated where other, more traditional routes would have been used in the past..ive had a permanent pain in my ass for a number of years, with acuteness coming and going as I ramp up milage...what brought me to the doc this time was pain in my pubic bone area, serious clicking in my hip, a random IT band flare up, and chronic sciatic ass pain and a ..this left me with an inability to do more than 3 miles w/o serious pain and a lot of running less depression.
That was November. since then, I've been in PT and do a solid 35 minutes of hip strengthening excercise everyday and took up swimming for cardio. Although I'm loath to go in the water, I think the swimming has really helped. Since the beginning of the year, ive started running short and slow distances on he treadmill and finally, 2 months after I'd given up all hope,I'm back to running again and I'm up to 5 miles w/o any serious pain or after effects. I still have the pain I the ass, and still feel niggling tightness in my groin, but nothing near the pain I had before ( and the hip clicking has almost gone away).
so, 2 months later, do I believe the doc when he, in my eyes, poo poooped the MRI labrum tear? jury is still out, but most def. am on a positive mend.
I think most of us went through the traditional routes of therapy before deciding on surgery. Certainly, there are people who rehab and become pain free and people who have torn labrums that are asymptomatic - so the doctor might have a point. But I went through 5 months of physical therapy only to have the pain remain mostly unchanged in the end. I had a period in the middle there that was mostly painfree, but then it came right back and worse.
I wouldn't rush into surgery and PT is worth a shot, but I think most end up in surgery as a last resort.
So according to the MRI report, there is no cam lesion, the iliopsoas tendon is normal, all surrounding muscles and tendons are normal (which is good, beneficial for recovery), no paralabral cysts, no chondral abnormality, and normal acetabular anteversion. It also means that nothing else could be causing the pain, just the tear. Which is kind of a relief, no need to screw around with trying to fix other stuff to solve the problem.
So impingement may not be the cause. Although, there is no mention of a possible pincer impingement. I am going to bring it up with the doctor on Thursday and ask that he look a little closer at the xrays. It's also possible that the head of the femur is slightly misshapen and caused the tear. It's also possible that there was some traumatic twist or something that tore it, but I can't pinpoint any one instance that could have caused it. I do know that I have dealt with butt pain for a really, really long time. Maybe it was too many deep lunges, a rapid acceleration during speedwork, I don't know. I'm hoping we can discuss further on Thursday. I wish my appointment was sooner. I'm just speculating at this point.
I would guess there is an impingement and the radiologist missed it or it just didn't show on the scans. I had a pretty significant cam lesion that surprised the surgeon once he got in there! Typically, it's something like a traumatic accident that would cause a torn labrum in the absence of a bone issue (I swear, Mandy and I had this same exact conversation when I was diagnosed and the radiologist saw no impingement!)
Who are you seeing? The surgeon will have a better read on the results, for sure. The good thing is the impingement part doesn't really affect recovery - the labrum is the slowest part to heal.
I live in Northern California, my current ortho is Dr. Tompkins. I really like him and he has a wonderful success rate for the surgeries he does perform, but I don't know if he does labral repairs. This is something that we are going to talk about on Thursday for sure. If he does not have enough experience with them, I am definitely going elsewhere.
Good plan. I think there are some hip specialists in that area (Sampson? Believe he's in San Francisco area). The facebook group is good for finding local doctors, as well.
The issue is my insurance is pretty specific on providers (EPO). Sutter Select. It has to be in network and will not cover out of network physicians.
I saw my ortho today, he doesn't do hip arthroscopy so he referred me to Dr Lawler in Novato, who is pretty highly regarded in the labral repair arena. I am calling tomorrow to get an appt and hope to get into surgery asap. I am ready to start recovering.
Good deal. There were a few people that referenced him on the FB groups. Hopefully he can see you quickly!
I have a date for surgery. March 4th. He saw a bump on the femur that he is going to shave down while he is in there. I am so relieved to have a time line now.
Hey I think that was Mandy's date! Or close.
Which makes me realize that the first crew is at or close to a year post op!
Refurbished Hip
I had surgery March 3rd, 2014, so you can follow my timeline exactly, basically!
Running is dumb.