Acetabular Labrum tear

Hi Chibipinkbunny,
I am a ballet dancer in SF too! I tore my Labrum in November- just diagnosed this past week. I also had a terrible experience with the doctors. The doctor looked at me and told me that I would never dance or teach again. I have my own dance company and ballet school so this is just not an option for me. At least I am not in as much pain as you! I feel horribly for you. I have gotten to a much better doctor now and have a lot of great information I am happy to share with you. Like you, I am still just at the beginning of this journey.
I still do not have the Arthrogram MRI completed but I have all the classic signs of labral tear.
I hate typing but if you want to talk on the phone you can email me with your phone # applegate_dance@yahoo.com If you do not want to share experiences in person let me tell you that three great doctors in our area, they are the only ones that you should allow to operate on you! Very few people can do this surgery with a high success rate. Luckily there are 3 good docs in our area. ( I don't think I am allowed to mention names on this forum) Believe to be not only pain free but dancing again too!

Hi Bluemango,

I have just seen your post from last month. The two most experienced UK surgeons in hip arthroscopy are Damien Griffin (University of Warwick Hospital and private) and Mr Villars (private only - London).

Good luck.

Hi. My ortho consultant believes I have a labral tear. It started a year ago, I'd have slight pain from goingfrom sitting t standing position. One day I had the most unbearable pain in my groin, then pain is now chronic and is generally at the side of my hip or presents as lower back pain. I have a constane limp, no matter how hard I try to get rid of it! I feel like I 'rock' in my hip and i twist when I walk. I can walk but not very far, sport has gone out of the window, which is sad. My MRA was negative, although my consultant says he still thinks I have a labral tear and the MRA is falsely negative. I have just had the local aneastheic and cortisone injection in my hip, it was very nice to walk with no pain. Has anyone else had a false negative result? Does anyone else walk with a limp?
Many thanks

lenny79,

i had 2 false negatives before i got a positive and have 2 friends who have also got false negatives on the initial scan. it was lucky the doctor kept sending me back to get it redone. getting the dye in the right place and how it spreads must be inconsistent. last time i got the injection i had to walk along way to the MRI machine and had a 30min wait before i got in, whether this had anything to do with the dye accumulating in the right places and contrasting the image better i am not sure. like any profession radiologists vary in quality. my advice is get it redone by a different doc. i wasted 18 months and about $10k trying to find out and alternative diagnosis only to come back to the start.

I injured my hip 4 months ago while figure skating and when I went to my famiily doctor about it she said I might have a labral tear. I went home and researched it, actually obsessed about it, and determined that that's what I had. I've been to see a Sports Medicine Doctor who also agreed and suggested I get an MRA. I live in Canada and the wait-list is very long. So I opted to pay for it myself at a cost of $1025 knowing it would show up and that I would then be seen by an Orthopedic Surgeon. They injected anesthetic into my joint and I had immediate relief for about 5 or 6 hours. I knew then that I definately had a labral tear. I was crushed when I got the results of my MRA - Negative! The sports med doc suggested I try more physio therapy (which doesn't help at all) and basically told me to go away. I find simple things like going up the stairs, or taking my dogs for a walk extremely difficult. I've had to give up figure-skating because it's too painful. The snapping, catching and popping that goes on in my hip just about drives me crazy. And I've been on NSAIDS for the last 4 months and they make my stomach feel like I've eaten molten lead. Can anyone suggest what I should do now??? I need your HELP!

I also have labral tears in both of my hips. I was mis-diagnosed for 3 years. Your docter needs to give you and MRI arthrogram instead of a normal MRI. Sometimes the tears do not show up in a normal MRI. By defination an MRI Arthrogram is An MRI, or MR, arthrogram is an imaging procedure that demonstrates the joint spaces. An injection of a liquid contrast material into the joint space allows joints to be particularly visible during the MRI. Here is a website so you can do more research. (http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/...geS1267P0.html) Hopefully this helps. Good Luck.

Thanks for your response. I did have an MRI arthrogram done (which I paid for). The radiologist reported it as negative for labral tear, but I've compared my pictures to many others that I've found on the web and I'm pretty sure I can see a tear. This is a fairly new procedure in Canada and I think the radiologist might be mistaken. What does show up clearly on my pictures is a lot of swelliing around my joint. The radiologist called it "Synovitis". My physiotherapist says he can't do anything to help the synovitis and that I still need to see an Orthopedic Surgeon. But for some reason no one will even give me the time of day! I'm getting a little nervous because I've been taking NSAIDS - first Diclofenac, then Naproxen, and now Celebrex - and nothing seems to be able to fix the synovitis. My physiotherapist says that anything longer than 6 months on NSAIDs is dangerous and that long term swelling around the hip joint will eventually start to cause deterioration of the bone and cartilage, leading to arthritis. It's really frustrating knowing there is something that can easily be done to fix my problem and yet I'm unable to get an appointment to see the doctor who can do it. I have another appointment with my Sports Med next week. Hopefully I will get the answers I'm looking for then.

I now have the opposite problem - a false positive scan! MRI arthrogram shows up a nice tear and bony bump directly below it on the head of the femur, radiologist report states labral tear but I've just had a second opinion from one of the top guys in the UK, and normal hips can look like this on MR and it seems unlikely that this is what is causing my symptoms. Bit of a blow but got to stay positive and keep up the physio.

The danger with NSAIDs is gastrointestinal (GI) bleeds / ulcers. The risk of this is increased if you are elderly or taking medicines such as aspirin, steroids and some of the anti-depressants. Celebrex has been designed to carry a lower risk of the GI effects. If you have any stomach symptoms at all (eg acid, indigestion feeling) ask to be prescribed a proton pump inhibitor (PPIs eg omeprazole, lansoprazole) to protect the stomach. In the UK, prescibing comes down to cost-effectiveness and it is cheaper and more effective to prescribe an old style NSAID (eg diclo, ibuprofen, naproxen) and a PPI than celebrex on its own and you wouldnt really be prescribed celebrex with a PPI. Depending on how your healthcare system works, you might be able to get celebrex and a PPI, which studies have shown is better than celebrex on its own (stomach wise).

Somebody told me rose hip is a good anti-inflammatory but I havent really looked into it yet.

Good luck - hopefully there will be someone on this site that can recommend a good Dr in your area

Caroline

Caroline, where abouts in the UK are you?

Kate

I'm in Edinburgh. Went down to see Prof Griffin last week who basically confirmed what the guy up here said

Caroline