The hip joint is a deep “ball and socket” joint and may be acutely injured with trauma, or experience degenerative “wear and tear” throughout life. Lining the hip joint socket is a ring of cartilage called the labrum, or labral cartilage, and the labrum functions to increase hip joint stability but also to transfer weightbearing loads across the hip joint with activities such as walking, running, or jumping.
The hip joint functions primarily in hip flexion, with the knee raising up towards the abdomen and trunk and, as a result, the anterior/ front part of the hip joint tends to wear preferentially due to repetitive loading in this area. Hence, hip labral injuries often occur anterosuperiorly/ at the front upper part of the hip joint. The labrum commonly degenerates with age and may cause symptoms of groin, hip, buttock, or lower back pain especially with activities involving hip flexion (e.g. running, high stepping or stepping over something high, crossing the legs, or putting on shoes or socks).
Hip labral injuries can be difficult to treat and maximal medical management is advised. This is in an attempt to avoid surgical intervention, as hip surgery is technically more difficult than most other joint surgery, due to the deep location of the hip joint within the pelvis.
For more information, including treatment options, see the "Hip Labral Injury" section in the FixitDoc app.
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