OrthoEdHub
📋 Condition Guide2024-01-18

Hip Labral Tear: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

The hip labrum is a ring of cartilage lining the socket of the hip joint. Labral tears cause deep groin pain, clicking, and a sense of catching — commonly seen in young athletes and dancers.

Educational content only. This article is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified orthopedic surgeon or physician for diagnosis and treatment.

What Is the Hip Labrum?

The hip labrum is a ring of fibrocartilage that lines the rim of the acetabulum (hip socket). It serves critical functions:

  • Deepens the socket, increasing hip stability
  • Provides suction seal effect that holds the femoral head in the socket
  • Distributes load across the joint surface
  • Contains nerve endings that contribute to proprioception (joint position sense)

When the labrum tears, it can cause pain, mechanical symptoms (clicking/locking), and long-term contributes to cartilage damage and hip arthritis.

Causes

Hip labral tears usually result from one of three mechanisms:

Trauma: Direct injury from dislocation, fall, or sports collision

Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI): Abnormal hip bone morphology (cam deformity on the femoral head or pincer deformity on the acetabulum) causes the bones to impinge on the labrum with hip movement — the most common underlying cause of labral tears

Hip dysplasia: Shallow acetabulum places excessive stress on the labrum as it compensates for inadequate bony coverage

Repetitive microtrauma: Repetitive hip loading in extreme ranges — seen in ballet dancers, gymnasts, soccer players, hockey players, and golfers

Symptoms

  • Deep groin pain: The most consistent finding — often described as anterior hip or groin pain
  • C-sign: Patients often describe their pain by cupping their hand around the lateral hip to make a "C" — pointing to the deep hip socket pain
  • Mechanical symptoms: Clicking, snapping, locking, or catching sensation with hip movement
  • Pain with prolonged sitting: Hip flexion compresses the anterior labrum
  • Pain with pivoting/twisting activities
  • Loss of hip range of motion or stiffness

Diagnosis

Physical examination:

  • FADIR test (Flexion, ADduction, Internal Rotation): The primary provocative test — reproduces anterior groin pain when the hip is compressed in this position
  • FABER test (Flexion, ABduction, External Rotation)
  • Log roll test

MR Arthrogram (MRI with intra-articular contrast): The gold standard imaging for labral tears — contrast outlines the tear and distinguishes full-thickness from partial tears. Standard MRI without contrast is less sensitive.

Diagnostic injection: Intra-articular local anesthetic injection; if pain relief confirms the hip joint as the pain source, it supports surgical decision-making.

Treatment

Conservative Treatment

  • Physical therapy: Hip strengthening (abductors, external rotators, core), activity modification, gait retraining
  • NSAIDs for pain management
  • Intra-articular corticosteroid injection: Temporarily reduces inflammation

Conservative treatment is appropriate for isolated labral tears without significant underlying bony deformity, or when the tear is degenerative in nature.

Hip Arthroscopy (Labral Repair)

Minimally invasive surgery to repair or reconstruct the torn labrum using suture anchors. Simultaneously, any FAI bony deformity (cam resection, pincer trimming) is corrected to address the underlying cause.

Outcomes are best in:

  • Young patients with preserved cartilage
  • Clear FAI morphology corrected at the same time
  • Athletes with specific mechanical symptoms

Recovery: Return to sport at 3–6 months; PT begins immediately post-op.

Recommended Products