labral tear in hip

If you dont mind me asking how did you get these labral tears? Was it from running or did you have a traumatic injury such as a fall or twist?

I was recently diagnosed in with a femoral stress fracture but the doc said that something showed up on the MRI (no dye) that could have been a labral tear but that it was inconclusive and was probably just noise. for a day or two after my SF happened during a half marathon I got a popping feeling in the hip but it went away and hasn't returned. The doc said he isnt worried about it and said it was unlikely I tore my labrum from running because it usually requires some kind of trauma.

I'm assuming this is scott martin

http://www.brighamandwomens.org/mdSearch/MedicalProfessionalDetail.aspx?MPR=3428

Hari P. Bezwada, MD

http://www.pennhealth.com/Wagform/MainPage.aspx?config=provider&P=PP&ID=9614

Does anyone know of a Brian Kelly or Kelley in New York? I can't seem to find any info. on him.

Any other drs. you'd recommend looking into on the northeast coast?

i actually had my hip scoped for a labral tear in january. i'm pretty sure that i tore it completely when i fell at the end of an ironman last summer. i had tremendous difficulty running anything fast after the race and had vague pain that was difficult to describe. i had ART done on it for probably 6 weeks but the pain got worse and i still could not running anything fast. that's when i went to go see the top hip orthopod at hss. labral tears are difficult to diagnose because there isn't a definitive test for them. i had some clicking but it wasn't like i could point to a spot and say "it hurts here." the doctor had further doubts anything was wrong when i told him that i had just run 19 miles at just under 7 minute pace but it was a lot more work than it should have been.

i went for the mri and the tear showed up. i then went for an x-ray guided injection of some type of cortisone. because labral tear pain is so amorphous, they like to use this injection to help determine if the pain actually is coming from the labrum. if the injection knocks out the pain, it is much more likely the labrum. if it doesn't, then the pain is coming from somewhere else. plus, something like 10% of patients get cured from this injection. sure enough, the pain disappeared from the injection. that was great but it only lasted about 10 days and then the pain (and slow running) was back. this then made me a candidate for the surgery, which i elected to undergo.

the surgery itself is a scope and doesn't take very long. however, the hip is a very tight joint and they literally crank your leg out of the hip joint to get the scopes in there (i'm glad i was knocked out for that because i was told afterward that your balls lay up against a pole that then is cranked to pull apart your leg). if the tear isn't bad, then they will stitch it up. if it is bad (mine was), then they cut it out. i also had a bone spur, which they shaved down. recovery for the stich up surgery is longer because you have to immobilize the hip while you wait for the stiches to set. my tear didn't look that bad on the mri but was huge and flapping around in my hip. the dr showed me the pix and it looked like grated cheese. when he was done it was smooth like a piece of paper.

i was on a stationary bike the next morning at rehab (with no resistence) and off crutches in 10 days. i should have been off sooner but they were being conservative. i figured since i never really was in a lot of pain and was walking so soon after the surgery that i would be running within 6-8 weeks. however, i made very little progress the first 2 months. i started running close to the 3 month mark but i was very very slow and very very short (like 1 mile at 9 minute pace). i'm now 6 months out and still dealing with stiffness and getting close to throwing in the towel for the year.

i think the key points are that the mri may not show everything going on in your hip; the surgery isn't painful or severe but takes many months to recover from and you want to go to a top go for it (hips are hard to work on and easy to screw up). i hope this helps.

There is a lot of good information about possible physicians to see on this website:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Femoroacetabular_Impingement/

They have mentioned Kelley on that site as one of the top guys to see.

The doc that I went to see for this injury said that the most common side effect from the surgery is impotence. Maybe its from getting your balls crushed against that pole as they pull your hip out of socket.

Yes... My PT said Kelly would be a top guy to see. The guy he trained under was someone from CO so that's a bit far. Unfortunately, neither Kelly or Bezwada were participating with my insurance (health assurance/america) so I'm back to looking again. I haven't checked in with Martin yet but he's at least 8 hrs away so i'd like to find something w/in 4 hrs if possible.

I'll check out the link to see waht i can find but any other drs. I should check out?

do any of you have groin pain as a symptom?

kelly did mine. i was told by several people who know a lot more than i do about these kinds of things that if you are in the northeast, he is the ONLY guy to do it. hss has set him up as the guy there for hip scopes and a lot of his work is correctly botched surgeries from other docs. it's a hard surgery to do correctly. don't forget that it wasn't too long ago that there was no such thing as a scope in the hip and they had to cut you wide open. if i recall correctly, there are 3 other guys you want to do it on you (i want to say 1 is in co, 1 in ca and 1 in tn).

the goods still work fine so kelly and his staff know how to crank your hip out without breaking the jewels...

pain on the inside is a symptom but i didn't have it and i had a huge tear. like i said earlier, labral tears are amorphous to describe and there isn't 1 telltale symptom. it's best to get an mri, which still isn't definitive. also, kelly ditched a lot of insurances this spring. i guess he got sick of billing people $36K and only getting $2K from the insurance company.

What's the guy's name in TN?

You can find out more similar cases in the "loss of coordination in leg" thread.

One probable cause is the cumulative effects of making continuous left turns training on the track. Most cases involve a severe tightening of the hip flexors as well as the illiotibial band on the left side. The glutes will also tighten up and may even hurt. Many people I know (including myself) have had some infammation and tears in some of these areas.

I'm no expert so I don't know if surgery is worth it, but on your own u can try a lot of different stretches on the muscles in yr left hip/leg. U might also want to do core strengthening exercises because the hip/pelvic area might have been pulled out of alignment due to the shortened muscles/ligaments on yr left side. For back pain working on the transverse abdominus (deep lower abdominals) will help stabilise the spine.

I wonder if yr right hip/leg is also having problems? If there's a pelvic imbalance (like yr right side being higher than yr left) then you might wt to try some gluteus medius strenghtening. In this case, yr right hamstring might also be pulled upwards and tight. Yr left hip could be anteriorly rotated and lowered, and yr right hip posteriorly rotated and elevated. A lot of stretching focusing on left tensor fascia latae/ITB/adductors/rectus femoris will help.

Maybe not specific enough for yr case alone but certainly seems to be the case for many other posters here.

Sorry just re-read yr original post and realised that u got the problem on yr right side. Still, its worth checking for problems on yr left to see if any imbalance might have caused it. Then hopefully by working on those imbalances u might avoid surgery.

On a x-ray, it slows that my left hip is higher than my right hip; rt hip (bad hip) being anteriorly rotated (but hamstrings are still tight).

A PT checked for a leg length discrpency; left leg being almost a half inch longer - I've been trying a heel lift in my right shoe for 2 weeks w/ no changes.

I've done core work for a couple mth to no avail. It's frustrating obviously.

I can live w/ it but it sure is a big headache. If i can find a reputable dr. close by and that works w/ my insurance, I'll most likely go through w/ it.

By the way, I'm still in need of more drs. you may recommend in the northeast US.

They guy in TN is named Byrd.

Mentions a doc in Richmond, VA.

Mentions Dr. McCarthy in Boston.

I call my insurance company referring to all these doctors and unfortunately none of them are in my network. I did see a guy named Robert Palumbo from Allentown, PA pop up on the above linked message board which is in my network but not sure how reputable he is. Anyone here hear of him?

Basically my insurance only participates w/ various facilities in md, pa, oh, and wv.

NOt a lot ot choose from but anyone you'd recommend w/in that radius?

I call my insurance company referring to all these doctors and unfortunately none of them are in my network. I did see a guy named Robert Palumbo from Allentown, PA pop up on the above linked message board which is in my network but not sure how reputable he is. Anyone here hear of him?

Basically my insurance only participates w/ various facilities in md, pa, oh, and wv.

NOt a lot ot choose from but anyone you'd recommend w/in that radius?

bump