Hip Labral Tear

[vcubergirl]

Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm looking for some stories of how things worked out!

I hurt my hip back in September after a weird run (my legs were sore from lifting the day before), and I've been through about 5.5 months of PT trying to get things back to normal. My PT has released me from treatment now, he says my hips are moving correctly and my running form looks good, and that the way it feels now will likely be as good as it gets without surgery. I can run about 3 miles now with just a little pain, but I have to make sure I stretch and foam roll a lot after. Cycling and swimming are about the same, I can do about half an hour before it starts to feel uncomfortable.

He has suggested that I stick to running 3-6 miles 2-3 times per week, and no more than about an hour of any kind of cardio at a time. He said if I do that and continue with the glute/hamstring exercises I may see some pain reduction, but also maybe not. He's confident that I'm not doing any additional damage, which is good, but pretty much said no to any kind of endurance sports with the possible exception of swimming.

[emilyj]

*raises hand* I have a partially torn labrum. I fell going down a flight of stairs in the spring of 2017.

I went in to PT. I had basically no strength in that hip, and a lot of pain when I was walking, especially after getting up from sitting. I had a catch in my hip and it was buckling on me fairly frequently. I was slate to run IM Louisville in October, so surgery wasn't even a consideration. We did a mass of hip/core/back strengthening exercises, based on the idea that if I could build my hip strength up, it would support that tear. It took about 3 months before I stopped feeling the pain, but I noticed a huge improvement very quickly not only in my hip strength and that buckling stopping, but in my IT band as well.

I ran Louisville with no problem. I've continued to train for long distances. I'm 70 days away from running a second IM. As long as I stay vigilant with doing my PT exercises, I don't have any issues. If I slack off on them at all, then I start feeling that catch/buckle, and a little bit of pain.

My PT said as long as I kept the hip joint strong, I should be fine for a long time. However, he said at some point, the whole thing will probably tear and I'll have to do surgery. I go to a pretty sport-focused PT group, so they understand.

Did you have imaging done? Do you know what kind of tear you're dealing with (partial, full?)

[icedcoffee]

H&F Lurker....

My sister had a labral tear. She was a very active runner--marathons, halfs, etc. She had surgery like 2 years ago. She still has a ton of issues with it and they're recommending she go in for a revision, but she's TTC and pregnancy often makes it much worse so it's not a priority at the moment. She does not run as much at all and thinks her running days are behind her. It was very hard for her emotionally.

She found a few FB groups for labral tear support groups that were very helpful. Try searching on FB for them.

[vcubergirl]

Feb 15, 2019 11:00:14 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Did you have imaging done? Do you know what kind of tear you're dealing with (partial, full?)

Thanks for your insight!

I have not, no. My PT said there wasn't much point unless I was considering surgery, which at this point I'm not. I was thinking about getting it done anyway just to have a baseline going forward though, but I'm out of FSA money for the year.

I do feel like it's still continuing to improve, albeit extremely slowly, and he gave me a ton of exercises that I can rotate through. It's taking forever though, I had no idea I was dealing with something other than a strain/sprain going into it and I was thinking I'd be fine in 6-8 weeks. Ha.

My plan for now is to ride out this year, do the 2 half marathons I'm already signed up for, and see how it is in January when our FSA is full again and we have the extra money to spend on health care stuff.

[luckystar2]

Me! I have Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and confirmed labral tear in my right hip (MRA confirmed). And suspected tear in my left hip (didn’t bother doing MRA as it was exact same symptoms)

I’ve had problems with my right hip since I was a kid. It was on and off and nobody knew why. 2.5 years ago when I was training for a marathon it got really bad. That’s when I was diagnosed with FAI in both hips and a tear in the right hip. I got a cortisone injection to help make it through my marathon along with doing PT. I had a lot of success with the cortisone.

About 6 months later I was training for a half my left hip became painful and actually was worse than what the right had been. We assume it was a tear since the symptoms were the same and I have FAI in that hip as well. Cortisone injection and PT. It took a lot longer to get relief in that hip. I was sidelined all summer. But after about 5 months I was running again. I took it easy over the winter and spring. But this past summer I decided to try training for a half again and it went well. No issues!

I am hoping I can keep running and doing a half maybe once a year or every other year. At the moment my hips are good so I’m not considering surgery but when things were bad I was. If pt/cortisone hadn’t worked I would have had to go with surgery. My mom has FAI and had a tear as well. She didn’t have success with pt/cortisone so she did have surgery. It worked well for her but she isn’t very active to begin with so no clue how it would have affected her ability to exercise/run.

If you have any questions let me know. I spent many years frustrated and undiagnosed. My ortho office finally has a hip preservation group that focuses on this issue so that was what really helped!

[vcubergirl]

My PT did do xrays when I first went in, and fortunately my hip bones look OK. I'm still debating an mri just to have some idea of how it looks now and to make sure it's not getting worse.

My PT also really doesn't like to do cortisone, although he said he would if I really wanted to, especially to get through the 2 half marathons I'm signed up for.

I ran 3 on the treadmill and had a good stretch after and it's feeling pretty good, but the almost constant discomfort is annoying.

[sunnysally]

I also have FAI, bone spurs, misaligned tendons, and a shallow hip socket on top of having a severe case of scoliosis that puts extra strain on my hip. I tore my labrum in December of 2015 doing single leg deadlifts. I did PT but it didn't really help with the pain. I hiked the Inca Trail in May of 2016 and I know I did more damage to my hip. I had the labral repair surgery in Aug 2016. At the same time, they realigned my tendons, ground down the spurs, and deepened my hip socket.

I still have issues with FAI and hip pain but the really deep groin pain from the labral tear is gone. I thought surgery was pretty easy, but I did have 8 previous back surgeries so surgery isn't really a big deal to me. I was non-weight bearing for 4 weeks and used a walker because I found it easier than crutches. After 4 weeks I was weight bearing with the help of crutches and back to work after 6 weeks. I didn't wear a brace of any kind, but I know some people do.

I have had 2 cortisone shots in the hip since surgery. When I had the last shot, they also drew off several ccs of fluid indicating arthritis. I still backpack with a fairly heavy pack, lift weights, and swim.

[secretlyevil]

Whelp, this past Nov I had hip repair surgery - labral tear and impingement. It.has.sucked. The tear itself wasn’t a huge deal, apparently, it was the cartilage caught in the tear.

You’ve been doing PT for so long that, unless you’re ignoring strengthening and it doesn’t sound like you are, you may consider getting some imaging done.

ETA: I was non-weight bearing for almost five weeks. I used a walker, then crutches and finally a cane. I’ve been full weight bearing for three weeks. I’m at exactly 12 weeks. When I said it has sucked above, it doesn’t do the experience justice. If you can avoid surgery, do so. If you can’t resume regular activities pain-free and you’re not willing to give them up (I was not) than do what you need to do.

Someone on here recommended I look for someone who specialized in hip preservation and it was seriously the best advice.

[vcubergirl]

That was basically what my pt told me: that I can keep doing the exercises and hope it improves as I continue to build strength, that I could keep doing the exercises and it might not improve and I can deal with the pain, or I can have have the surgery.

I'm not really thrilled with any of the options, really, except for the off chance that it keeps improving. He didn't really seem optimistic that I would see much more improvement though. I'm definitely not doing anything major until at least after my half in November, so maybe by then the choice will be more obvious. I really appreciate everyone's stories! It helps to hear that other people have dealt with this.

[luckystar2]

Feb 19, 2019 20:02:04 GMT -5 vcubergirl said:

That was basically what my pt told me: that I can keep doing the exercises and hope it improves as I continue to build strength, that I could keep doing the exercises and it might not improve and I can deal with the pain, or I can have have the surgery.

I'm not really thrilled with any of the options, really, except for the off chance that it keeps improving. He didn't really seem optimistic that I would see much more improvement though. I'm definitely not doing anything major until at least after my half in November, so maybe by then the choice will be more obvious. I really appreciate everyone's stories! It helps to hear that other people have dealt with this.

I was basically told the same. My PT wasn’t confident I’d get back to running longer distances. But I’m amazed at how much it improved. It was really bad for a bit. I lost a ton of strength and had issues doing easy things. But with cortisone and PT it just finally got better.

I’d be careful with the half in November. If you’ve still got pain i wouldn’t push it. I’ve learned my lesson now. Pushing through the pain set me back a ton and I definitely shouldn’t have done the 1 half where my hip was hurting.