Anyone had a Hip Labral Tear?

Forum search showed one mention a year or so ago by @Sassyquatch, how is that going for you Mr Sass? Anyone else have to deal with this kind of injury and care to give some first hand insight?

Hip started bothering me a couple years ago, slowly progressing, and got so bad late last year that it was hard to throw my leg over the bike at times. Saw the ortho doc, went through the progression... Xrays negative for arthritis, then PT last Nov-Dec where they worked on all the tendons and ITs and muscle stuff, which made it worse if anything. Then a cortisone injection in January, helped for 3-4 days then back to the pain. MRI in March, results show the labrum tore from the pelvic bone in a spot. When I can see the doc again in a month or two we'll talk about surgery. On the video-consult last week he indicated recovery would be a couple weeks on crutches, another 4-6 taking it easy then start PT. Could be 3 months off the bike, crap.

Odd thing is, though it's painful at times to get my leg over the bike saddle (thank goodness for dropper posts), it doesn't hurt at all while pedaling or standing going downhill. Walking is what sets it off. Gets a little stiff after a ride but not during. No idea if it started due to a crash a few years ago or repetitive overuse and old age (most likely). Regardless, definitely affects quality of life as it's uncomfortable walking or hiking for any distance. Not crippling pain, but doc also said arthritis could start to creep if it's not fixed, so there's that.

Enough of my wah-wahing, if anyone has any experience, directly or someone you know, please let me know how it went. Kind of a mental thing for me at this point, would like to get an idea of real world situation. Thanks

 

You'll probably get more responses over on MTBR. There's not an injury in existence that multiple people over there haven't experienced.

 

Here's to getting past it. Can't offer much more than that.

 

No bueno on parts not working optimally!

Three months off the bike goes pretty quickly, Dave. Inconvenient, but shouldn't dissuade you from getting the surgery if you need it. Fitness and skill will come right back, just like riding a bicycle.

 

Good you finally know exactly what the problem is. I have no first hand experience but surgery is probably the best option now, after which and you can put this ordeal in your rear-view mirror. You’re one tough dude and an inspiration to me that I’ve also still got lots of years of activity left, you’ll be back on the bike, pain free and kicking my ass on the climbs and stomping the tech before you know it. Looking forward to riding (and HABing) with ya and also perhaps we can also do some of the cool hikes we’ve been talking about.

 

Thanks for the good words Gary, I think I'ma wimp that just keeps plugging away trying to keep this biking thing going to some degree. Will be good to get back to the weekday adventures. I'm probably looking at July-Aug for surgery if I go that way, so will be off in the hot months that I don't like much anyway. In the mean time, doc said I can ride as long as keep it low impact (no big jumps-ha!), and stop if sharp pain. Just gotta get past this covid thing...

 

Sorry to hear about that. Those aren’t fun...I’ve had mine since late 2015. It’s usually mild to moderate, And doesn’t show many of the classic symptoms (little to no groin pain, flexing and abducting the hip doesn’t exacerbate it much). Sitting flexed position for a long time does seem to flare it up. I’ve been managing mine conservatively...saw our hip ortho guy and he recommended watchful waiting with follow up xrays and consider the knife if and when early signs of degeneration start. He is on the more conservative end of the spectrum when it comes to labrum, though.

I’m already on self imposed somewhat restricted weight bearing because of the really severe bilateral foot arthritis I’ve had since my early 20’s (secondary to Mueller-Weiss), so I don’t do much running or jumping more than about 1x week already...otherwise I may have done the surgery already.

I do have concerns about the long term outcomes of having the repair (maybe not much different from not having the repair for the big outcome which is going on to hip replacement), side effects such as nerve damage from the traction for the arthroscope, and the failure/re-operation rate. Also, the outcomes for the 40+crowd may not be as good as the younger folk.

it seems like the Physical Medicine and Rehab docs are less keen on surgery for this, at least partially for the reasons above. They are more focused on PT referrals and prolotherapy, PRP, and stem cell injections. Of course, hammer and nail and all, since they do those injections, often cash based since not covered by insurance.

Of course, I am definitely concerned enough about the potential for immunosuppression from surgery during this pandemic to not be considering doing the surgery now. It’s looking like the immune system is a major difference between those having severe disease and not, so I’m going to revisit this thing for myself after Covid.

Stretching and using a roller, especially the TFL (tensor fascia lata) and glutes (minimus and medius mostly) areas helps me quite a bit.

Anyway, I wish you the best with your hip journey...

 

Thanks for the all the insight and info Sam, you've dug into this more than I have. Sounds like we have similar situations and decisions to make. I'd just like to get it behind me since I've been dealing with the pain for a couple years now. I think some good years left in these legs (pedaling and hiking) but not with the way it's been the past 6 months. You bring up a good point with the success rate of surgery, and potential for nerve issues (wife had that happen after rotator cuff surgery a few years ago and it's pretty bad for her now). Will see what the ortho says about that and make sure surgery isn't on a Friday I've got a friend my age (going on 58) that has had both hips replaced and is doing wonderfully.
Nothing right away for me either since I'm on immunosuppresor meds for my crohn's, don't want to get even close to a chance of dealing with covid with my weak immune system.

I'm doing some stretches that the doc gave me and some roller work that @Tom the Bomb suggested, but honestly I don't see that they are helping, and sometimes feels a bit worse after doing them. What seem to help the most is avoiding walking for long lengths of time, but that just sucks.

Thanks again for sharing your info. Good luck to you too.