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Labral tear in hip

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  • I have been diagnosed with a labral tear in my hip. It's been a niggling injury since August 2012 but in the last 3-4 months it's got much worse and causing me a lot of pain and discomfort all the time so I'm thinking about surgery (need to talk to my consultant first). I understand it's not a given that surgery will fix it or make it better so I was wondering if anyone here has experienced the same, gone through surgery etc? Any feedback on recovery, success/failure etc would be appreciated.

    Thanks!

  • Jamie220Jamie220 Posts: 168

    Sorry to hear about this Macarone, hopefully one or two of our readers can shed some light on this.

    Hope you feel better soon!

    Jamie Beach, Digital Editor – 220 Triathlon

  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    For some reason it didnt post, what caused the injury, and are you doing anything, or do you have any misalignment issues that could be exasperating the injury, if so, correct these before considering surgery or it is back to square one.
  • I just felt a pain one day as I finished a run, it was a typical 10km so nothing out of the ordinary. As I stopped, I felt a sharp pain at the top of my leg but it subsided after a while. I've trained consistently since (18 months) and done a good number of tri's without problems, just a bit of pain in that region after each session. It was manageable up until a few months ago but now it just hurts all the time. I'm now seeing a consultant in the new year but thought it would be good to hear from other people's experiences. I've found lots of information online but very little from people who've had the op, in particular triathletes. I'm dreading the thought of not being able to continue my sport as I understand there's no guarantees with the op. I'm 43 and while I'm no spring chicken, I'm in relatively decent shape (besides a few other injuries, nothing that's stopped me before though). 

  • VLHCVLHC Posts: 6

    Hi Macarone!

    Sorry to hear about the injury! I had a hip arthroscopy in early November to fix a labral tear after having hip pain on and off since 2006. They also found that I'd partially torn my ligament and had a cartilage abnormality which they fixed through delamination.  It's 14 weeks after surgery now and I am back to 10km training runs and just completed my first interval session on the treadmill at 16kmph. So things are looking good for Ironman France in June!! I was in and out of hospital the same day and then on crutches for the first week taking pain killers daily. After this my physio had me straight back on the bike for mobilisation purposes - no resistance, just spinning my legs. I was back doing 3km swims as soon as the wounds healed (approx 2-3 weeks). I started on a run/walk programme at 10 weeks and consistent running after 12 weeks. The key is to find a physio used to working with this type of injury to help you through the intensive rehab programme. I'm happy to provide details of my surgeon (Cambridge) and physio (Essex) if you are looking for recommendations. The surgeon is worth travelling for!

    Everyone responds differently to surgery but the odds are in your favour in terms of fixing the tear and getting you back to normal fitness. I'm now training for up to 4 hours a day and back on my usual Ironman plan.

    Happy to answer any questions you may have

  • rincobbrincobb Posts: 1

    Hi Macarone,

    I had a very similar presentation but my background is ultra running rather than triathlon, diagnosed labral tear with an impingement on my femoral head after a contrast MRI. Had surgery May 2013 and surgeon was able to re-attach my labrum and file down my impingement. Every surgeon has there own protocol and mine was very conservative from a recovery point of view so was on crutches for 12 weeks, first 6 weeks no weight bearing and then partial to full over the next 6 weeks. Then had several months of physio and am now back running up to 8 miles with no issues plus cycling and swimming.

    Know of a couple of other folk who have had similar surgery with not such great outcomes so think it really depends on how much damage there is and whether the cartilage can be repaired or removed and ultimately who your surgeon is, my chap specialises in hips in athletes so would definitely recommend finding out about your surgeon, how many they've done and what their outcomes have been like!

    Good luck

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