What causes a Labral Tear?

Because so many people have been asking me this question, I thought I'd post it. The following is information on Labral Tears courtesy of www.hiplabraltear.com:

What Causes the Hip Labral Tear?

Almost 80% cases of hip labral tear have no known direct cause. Tears may occur with a slow progression in human life. The known caused factors include degeneration, injuries, osteoarthritis and problematic recurring activities and movements on hip joint, may cause hip labral tear. Many osteoarthritis patients suffer from hip labral tears (acetabular labral tear). Because hip fractures may tear their labrum. However the contribution osteoarthritis to the development of the hip labral tear is still a controversial issue within the medical society. On the other hand, majority of the physicians in this field believe that there is a close relationship between osteoarthritis and labral tears.

The cause of hip labrar tears (acetabular labral tears) are

• Capsular laxity
• Femoral acetabular (acetabulum: concave surface of the pelvis, it is the socket of the hip joint) impingement (impingement syndrome that affects the hip joint)
• Dysplasia (pathologic abnormality in maturation of cells within a tissue)
• Trauma
• Degeneration
• Bony pinching
  

There is a theory that supports the idea that the cause of hip labral tear is because of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) which generally occurs two forms; pincer and cam. FAI is a disease where the bones of your hip joint come too close and touch tissue or cause too much friction. Thus femoroacetabular impingement is associated with articular cartilage damage and labral tears and as a consequence a hip arthritis may arise at a younger age than usually takes place.

Physical activities that involve force adduction of the hip joint in association with rotation in either direction be likely to worsen the pain.

The length of the leg is also an issue. If one leg is shorter than other leg, this may affect your walking and may put pressure on your labrum. There are specially designed pads
in your shoes to support you for a proper walking.

Recovery is still going well and I can bare weight on the leg, but I'm trying not to as much as possible. I'm up to 80 degrees on the CPM machine (started at 40 degrees), so I'm at my max already with no pain! I have my post-op appt tomorrow at 2pm, so I'm excited to get feedback from my doctor on my progress. My PT homework is going well and I've also been able to ride the upright bike again for 20mins pain free. I'm excited about the progress I've made so quickly and hope it still keeps moving forward at that pace. :)