Symptoms & Diagnosis

Labral Tears

Tears of the labrum in the hip joint are a common source of pain in people of all ages. Labral tears may produce several types of discomfort, ranging from constant pain to a clicking or catching feeling with specific hip motions. Labral tears vary in their location and pattern of tearing which accounts for the varied symptoms. Labral tears are similar to meniscal tears in the knee or labral tears in the shoulder (search this website). Labral tears in the hip are often caused by trauma or torsion involving either a single episode or repetitive motions.

Labral tears are frequently treated with hip arthroscopy. The tear is visualized using the arthroscope and an appropriate treatment is implemented depending on the nature of the tear. Some tears of the labrum are simply removed and others are amenable to an arthroscopic repair.

The series of actual hip arthroscopy pictures below show two different types of labral tears.

Case #1

The first group of pictures shows a longitudinal tear of the labrum. The torn labral fragment is first identified. A thermal cutting instrument and other specialized instruments are then used to remove the torn fragment of labrum. In this case, the removal of the fragment allows visualization of the femoral head. The remaining attached labrum is then contoured to a smooth finish.

Case #2

This patient was found to have a radial tear of the labrum. Because there was no large fragment present, as in the case above, this tear is simply trimmed and contoured to a more normal shape. These photos show the appearance of the labrum before and after contouring.