How to Know if Hip Labrum Surgery Failed; The good news is that most hip labral tears are treatable with conservative therapy. The bad news is that some hip pain may be due to a condition other than a torn labrum, such as a back or hip problem.
It’s important to determine the exact cause of your pain before you begin treatment, so ask your doctor for an accurate diagnosis. A correct diagnosis will also help rule out other potential problems.
If you’re suffering from hip pain, here’s how to know if hip labrum surgery failed:
- The first step is to get an MRI. If the MRI doesn’t show any tear, then the doctor will do an ultrasound or X-ray of your hips.
- If the ultrasound and X-ray both show no tears in your labrum, then it’s likely that you have something else going on with your hips.
When I say “failed,” I mean that the patient did not get better.
I have found that the best way to determine if hip labral surgery has “failed” is by having a discussion with the surgeon about what is going on. The symptoms should be clear and specific. For example, a patient may think that their hip hurts but in reality it could be their low back or groin. A clear and specific history should be taken and then a physical exam should be performed. If needed, more testing would follow, possibly an MRI or ultrasound.
If the patient thinks their hip labrum surgery failed, then they need to see their surgeon again. Rather than assuming it has failed, one needs to discuss with your surgeon what is going on. I have never had this happen with my patients after hip labrum surgery because I am very aggressive with rehab and physical therapy and patients are generally pleased with the results of their surgery.
The reason why I say “discuss” rather than assume the surgery has failed, is because in medicine we often have to do things over time to make things better, not just do one thing and expect immediate success.
“After hip labral repair, I can’t walk up stairs without limping. It’s been four months since the surgery and I still can’t drive. I am in constant pain and my quality of life has drastically changed. When can I go back to work?”
If you have had hip arthroscopy for labral repair, you need to give your body time to heal. The hip joint is a weight bearing joint with a shallow socket, which makes it hard to obtain a complete recovery from labral tears. Some patients may have long term symptoms after surgery and may not be able to return to their pre-injury level of activity. However, there is hope that you will improve and get back to normal again! Whether your hip labrum surgery failed or was successful depends on your ability to regain full range of motion, strength, decrease pain and improve function.
Hip labral tear surgery may fail if it was done incorrectly or if the cause of a hip problem was not addressed. Even with the best surgical technique, the operation may not provide a sufficient repair to the labrum or may create additional damage to the hip joint that leads to persistent pain.
It is common for patients to have an increase in pain after hip arthroscopy or repair of a hip labral tear, but this should gradually resolve over time as the tissues heal and scar tissue forms. Patients should be given specific instructions by their surgeon about what activities are safe to resume and when.
Signs that hip labral surgery has failed may include:
persistent or worsening pain that does not resolve with rest
difficulty bearing weight on the affected leg
locking, catching, clicking or snapping within the joint
limited range of motion in the hip joint
- Increased hip pain
After a labral tear has been repaired, you can expect to experience hip pain for the first few days after surgery. However, if you find that your hip pain is continuing to increase rather than diminish over time, this could be an indicator that your body is rejecting the procedure.
- A “clicking” sensation
In many cases, a labral tear will be accompanied by a clicking or popping sensation in the hip joint. If you continue to experience this sensation after surgery or it becomes more frequent, this could indicate that there has been damage to the ligaments and/or tendons surrounding your hip. This happens when the surgeon inserts surgical instruments into the hip joint for repair, which can cause damage to nearby soft tissue.
- The development of scar tissue
The presence of scar tissue inside your hip joint can cause pain and other problems after surgery. Unfortunately, it is also common for surgeons to unknowingly leave pieces of surgical equipment behind during the operation, which then develop into scar tissue inside the body.
- A failure to improve symptoms
While it is normal for patients to continue experiencing some hip-related symptoms after surgery, such as stiffness or swelling around the joint, these symptoms should begin
The labrum is the rim of cartilage that surrounds the hip joint. The labrum helps to deepen the socket that the ball of your hip fits into, and also helps to hold the ball in place.
The labrum can be torn due to trauma (such as a fall or car accident) or from overuse injuries, such as impingement or FAI (femoroacetabular impingement).
A torn labrum may cause hip pain, catching or locking of your hip, decreased range of motion in your hip, groin pain or referred pain into your buttock or back. A tear in your labrum may also cause you to feel like your hip is unstable or like it’s going to slip out of joint.
There are three types of surgery that can be performed on a torn labrum: repair, removal and reattachment. Repair involves stitching the torn edges back together. Removal involves trimming away part of the torn labrum. Reattachment involves sewing a torn piece of cartilage back down to the bone.
A person who undergoes one of these surgeries should expect a slow recovery period followed by physical therapy for several weeks after surgery.
Hip arthroscopy is a minimally invasive procedure to help relieve pain caused by hip impingement, a condition in which the ball and socket of your hip joint don’t fit together properly. During hip arthroscopy, your doctor inserts a small camera, called an arthroscope, into your hip joint through a small incision. The images captured by the camera are displayed on a video monitor and help your doctor diagnose or treat problems inside your hip joint.
Surgical treatment for FAI includes correcting the abnormal shape of the bones and repairing damage to the cartilage. This is called arthroscopic surgical repair or debridement.
During surgery:
Your surgeon will make three or four small cuts (incisions) around your hip, each about 1/2 inch long.
Your surgeon will insert an arthroscope into one incision and use it to view inside your hip joint.
Your surgeon will insert surgical instruments through the other incisions to repair or remove damaged tissue.
After surgery:
You’ll be given medicine before the surgery to prevent pain. After the procedure, you may continue to take prescription medicine for pain relief as needed. Over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylen)
Why Does My Hip Still Hurt After Labrum Surgery?
Labrum surgery is a very effective treatment for many people who have hip pain. Unfortunately, the surgery doesn’t always eliminate all pain. In addition, some people may experience other problems (e.g., stiffness, loss of range of motion) after labrum surgery.
Why does my hip still hurt?
It can be frustrating to have hip pain after labrum surgery. There are several reasons why this may happen:
You may have developed arthritis in the hip joint following labrum surgery, especially if you’re older or if you’ve had previous injuries to the hip. Unfortunately, there’s no way to fix arthritis with additional surgery. However, there are many ways to treat arthritic hips that can improve your symptoms.
You may have a recurrence of your labral tear or develop another labral tear that requires surgical treatment. However, this is typically not common after labrum surgery and should not be expected as a routine occurrence.
The surgical procedure wasn’t able to completely eliminate all your symptoms due to either technical issues at the time of surgery or because of underlying biomechanical issues that weren’t addressed during your operation (for example, if you continued running on hard surfaces after you had your operation).
There are many things that can cause pain in the hip after labrum surgery. It may be due to the type of labrum tear you had and the technique used to repair it, scar tissue formation in the joint, or a condition called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI).
If your surgeon performed a labral debridement, meaning they removed the torn portions of your labrum but did not perform a labral repair, then you may be experiencing pain from an unstable hip. This condition is called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and occurs when extra bone grows along one or both of the bones that form the hip joint, causing abnormal contact between the ball and socket. This extra bone may have been present before surgery but not known about.
If your surgeon performed a repair of your torn labrum, then it could be that there was additional damage to your cartilage or joint surface that was not appreciated before surgery. If this is the case, then further treatment such as cartilage repair may be needed to treat your pain. Another possibility is that you are developing scar tissue within your hip joint; this is also known as heterotopic ossification (HO). HO can occur after any surgery around the hip and
I am a year post-op and I have also experienced pain after surgery. My surgeon told me that he doesn’t like to just “cut out” the labrum because it’s attached to everything in the hip socket, so he reattached my labrum at the site of its tear. So, if you are having hip pain after surgery, it’s possible that your labrum is re-tearing at the point where it was sewn back together.
I think that this is a worthwhile risk to take though, because the alternative is to cut out the labrum completely, which means you will have an unstable hip joint. Since I had quite significant cartilage damage in my hip socket as well, I wanted to do everything possible to keep my native cartilage as long as possible (the longer you wait to get a replacement, the better).
The pain I feel now is mostly around my incision site and radiates deep into my groin sometimes. The pain is also very sensitive to changes in weather (i.e., if there is a sudden drop in temperature). It’s been pretty frustrating for me because I used to be very active and now I’m not able to do much more than walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike.
Hip labrum surgery is a very common procedure. In fact, hip arthroscopy has become so commonplace that the American Journal of Sports Medicine (AJSM) reports that from 1999 to 2013, there was a 13-fold increase in the number of procedures.
As with any surgery, there are no guarantees of success. One study from AJSM reviewed results from 201 patients who had hip surgery for various reasons. The patients were followed for an average of 33 months and about half reported persistent hip pain.
Thank you for your story.
Patients can have a labral tear on one side and the other side can be torn or frayed as well. A surgeon is not going to know that until they go inside. There are ways of telling if a labrum is torn but it is not 100% accurate even with an MRI because the MRI is often inconclusive as to how bad the tear is.
In your case you had a very bad labrum tear in which it was probably detached from the bone and/or impinged upon the acetabular rim causing significant pain. This also can cause damage to the cartilage in which case you have early arthritis.
When I see patients after their surgery, we discuss many factors about their hip that may be contributing to their hip pain. These include:
- Presence of a CAM deformity (femoral neck bump)
- Presence of Pincer deformity (acetabular overcoverage)
- Presence of early arthritis (cartilage damage)
- Presence of ligamentum teres injury or tear
- Labrum degeneration or fraying (the normal aging process)
- Muscle imbalances about the hip as well as tightness or shortening of
The simple answer is that labral tears are one of the most common causes of hip pain in active adults. However, there are many other possible causes of hip pain including osteoarthritis, bursitis, muscle strains and more. So while labral surgery can be a very good option for some patients, it is not always the right choice.
Labral tears are most commonly seen in athletes. Rowing and golfing are two sports where labral tears are especially common. The underlying cause of a labral tear is usually impingement of the femoral head against the acetabulum (hip socket). This can lead to tearing of the cartilage on either the femoral head or the acetabulum itself. Patients with labral tears often have associated bony abnormalities as well including extra bone formation called cam lesions or pincer lesions which refer to over coverage of the acetabulum by bone.
The surgical options for labral tears include arthroscopic debridement and repair with or without accompanying bony surgery to reshape abnormal anatomy. Those patients who have severe arthritis may need an arthroplasty or hip replacement but this is a relatively small group of patients.
When considering surgery for a patient with a torn labrum, it
First, the labrum is a type of cartilage that surrounds the hip socket. Hip labral tears are common in athletes and active individuals. These tears can be caused by injury or degeneration (wear and tear) from repetitive stress on the hip joint.
Can You Retear a Repaired Hip Labrum?
A hip labral tear is a tear in the ring of cartilage that surrounds the hip joint. This cartilage helps stabilize and cushion the hip joint. It also keeps your thighbone from slipping out of place.
A labral tear can be painful and cause you to lose range of motion in your hip.
There are several ways to repair a hip labral tear. During an arthroscopic procedure, surgeons may use a small camera to see inside your joint. Then they may cut or fold over the torn portion of the labrum and sew it back together with dissolvable sutures
If your labrum has been repaired, you want to be sure you don’t tear it again. The risk of re-tearing depends on how extensive the damage is to your labrum and how old you were when you had surgery.
Good luck!
While it may be possible for a labrum to tear again after being surgically repaired, it is not a common occurrence.
The labrum is a piece of cartilage that covers the socket of the hip joint, providing stability and cushioning. Tears in the labrum can be caused by a variety of injuries ranging from sports and motor vehicle accidents to repetitive motion in activities such as golf and tennis.
Symptoms of a torn labrum include pain in the groin or thigh, clicking or popping noises, and an inability to rotate the hip. While it’s possible to live with these symptoms, many people opt for surgery to repair the tear and restore mobility to their hip joint.
The surgery itself involves an incision into the front or back of the hip where doctors insert a camera and small tools to access and repair the labrum. The procedure typically lasts about two hours and patients can go home the same day or stay overnight for observation before going home. Recovery usually takes six to eight weeks when following doctors’ post-operative instructions closely.
Post-operative care is crucial to ensure proper healing of both bone tissue and soft tissue (muscles and tendons) that may have been stretched or pinched during surgery. Patients are encouraged to keep their legs
A tear of the acetabular labrum can be caused by many things. It can occur from a fall, from repetitive stress (such as in athletes) or from degeneration. The labrum is a ring of cartilage that surrounds the acetabulum (the socket) of the hip joint. It provides stability to the joint and helps keep it centered. When this structure is injured, it can cause pain, decreased range of motion and catching in the hip joint.
In patients who have an acute injury to their labrum, or in athletes who have repetitive stress injuries, it is often possible to repair these tears with minimally invasive surgery. However, not all tears are amenable to repair. For example, if a patient has underlying arthritis in their hip joint or if they have too much damage to the articular cartilage on the ball of the femur, a repair may not be feasible. In those cases, a partial labral resection may be recommended instead.
In patients who have had a labral repair done, it is very important for them to follow their postoperative rehabilitation protocol closely and avoid certain activities until they have been cleared by their surgeon. This is necessary in order for the repaired tissue to heal properly and allow for optimal restoration of function
The hip labrum is a ring of cartilage that helps to deepen the socket for the hip. This labrum can be torn, which causes pain and decreased range of motion. The good news is that this can be repaired with arthroscopic surgery.
A labral tear may occur from an injury or from repetitive motion, such as sports. Someone who is overweight or has hip dysplasia may also be more likely to have a torn labrum.
Labral tears are most often repaired arthroscopically. During this procedure, 2 or 3 small incisions are made in the hip, and a small camera and surgical tools are used to repair the tear.
In general, an arthroscopic repair allows for a faster recovery than a traditional open procedure. Someone who has had an arthroscopic repair may need crutches for several weeks and will need physical therapy after surgery. In general, someone who has had an arthroscopic repair should be able to return to sports in about 6 months.
However, it’s important to note that not all labral tears can be repaired successfully with arthroscopic surgery. Sometimes more extensive damage is only found after the initial surgery begins, and a larger incision is required
Hip labral tears can occur in athletes and non-athletes alike. The labrum is a cartilage structure that surrounds the hip joint and helps to provide stability. The labrum can be injured during an impact injury like a fall, or due to repetitive stress.
The diagnosis of hip labral tear is made by obtaining a thorough history, physical examination, and advanced imaging such as MRI with contrast.
If you have been diagnosed with a hip labral tear and are experiencing hip pain, you should undergo a comprehensive evaluation to determine if surgery is appropriate for you.
If you’re having hip pain after surgery, it’s important to go back to your surgeon who did your surgery so they can examine you and see what the potential cause of your pain might be
A: No one will know for sure if this is a new tear or if it is the previous tear that was repaired. There are some things that you can do to get an idea of what is going on, such as getting an MRI with dye injected into the hip joint. This is called an MRI arthrogram. The dye will help to show up the tear more clearly.
You can also do a hip injection with dye and steroid. If your symptoms improve after the injection, that would make it more likely that it was a recurrent tear, rather than a new tear. But no test will be 100% accurate in determining this.
The hip joint is a ball-and-socket joint. The femoral head (ball) articulates with the acetabulum (socket).
The labrum is a ring of cartilage that lines the inside of the socket and helps increase stability by deepening the socket.
A tear can be caused by trauma, such as a fall or dislocation, or from repetitive microtrauma (minor tearing) over time.
Repairs can be accomplished through an open surgical procedure or with arthroscopic surgery.