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405614 tn?1329144114

Can hip labral tear cause pain down thigh and in lower abdomen?

I had a Hip arthrogram 1/7/08.

Findings:

There is a 12 mm long section of the superior labrum centered at 12 o'clock where contrast gets down to the cortex of the labral margin, indicating and area where the labrum was peeled back and detached.  There are no signs of hyaline cartilage thinning to indicate degenerative change in the hip joint.

The femur is normal.  There is no bursitis.  There is mildly increased signal intensity in the attachment ofthe tendons to the anterosuperior facet of the greater trochanter, consistent with tendinopathy.

I also have some low back issues and a hyper mobile and arthritic SI Joint, which I'm wondering if they will interfere with a repair on the hip.

Any advice or experience in this area will be greatly appreciated!

Kathy
12 Responses
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405614 tn?1329144114
Hello there.  My MS was discovered through a brain MRI after I had a bout with tremors, dizziness and vision issues.  It took a lot of testing and several neurologists to finally arrive at a diagnosis.  

You might visit the MS forum here and check out the health pages to learn more about the symptoms, criteria for diagnosis, all sorts of great information.  What you've described doesn't sound to me like what I know of MS symptoms, but I'm no expert.

Best of luck, take care
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Avatar universal
Hello Fluffysmom, I am a 52 yr male ive had cdf(cervical dics fusion) about 2 and half yrs ago, still have right shoulder pain for along time now. I also have legg-perthes disease since i was little. it was treated then but has resurfaced again the past 3 to 4 yr with hip, knee, and leg pain. i was having pain in right lower side of groin area. A pressure and tearing sensation. My regular dr diagnosed inguinial hernia and send me to a surgeon, he ordered a ct pelvic scan with contrast and sd there was no hernia come bk if it gets worst. that was abot 10 days ago, tearing getting worst aspreading across bottom of stomach, now having oral pain(which may or may not be related). when my dr diagnosed the hernia he thot i most likely had parkisons, however my neurosurgeon disagrees and says he cant help surgically. by the way the surgeon looking for the hernia suggested i have a stress test due to occasionally having a tearing sensation in chest as well and go to the er if it happens again. Well ive been to r several times over the past 3 or so yrs(got bills to prove it.)lways check heart, and thier drs have suggested constipation, muscle spasms, acid reflux, ibs, anxiety,  Over these same yrs ive seen rheumotologist, urologist, neurologist, orthopadeics, pts,. They usually point at other areas. no concrete answers. its becoming harder to work alot of times. My dr wants me to go bk to the neurologist. Bills, bills which add to my stress. I am, i have wondered in the past if it was ms or parkisons. What was the concrete test that proved ms if u can tell me please
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Avatar universal
I feel your pain...I too have been what I thought was lower back pain and now I am thinking it could be coming from the hip. If any of you have had kids, I came across this article on this website www.medhelp.org/posts/Orthopedics. the article is about how woman are being mis-diagnosed or undiagnosed for a childbirth injury of the hip. While in delivery of my son 20 years ago I had excruciating pain in my left hip/groin area to the point that I could not raise my leg while pushing to give birth to my son, afterward I could not even lift my left leg to get out of bed. The anestesiaologist had to come in my room and do a pin test to my left leg and foot to see if I had loss of feeling or tingling and because I didnt it never really went any further from there. while doing specific things like walking or the eliptical or treadmill at the gym I start to feel sore all over again like I was feeling 20 years ago. I am going to the doctors today to question this, hopefully she can figuere out were the pain is coming from. Laurie
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Avatar universal
I had pelvic pain for 4 years & being female, we all thoought it was an obgyn issue,  after 4 surgeries including a hysterectomy, ovary removal & a relook for endo.  i was sent to a spine specialist for chronic pain, since she has family members in the orthopedic side, they suggested to her that it could be a hip problem.  

I had hip surgery & he found I had a labral tear & some impingement.  Now it's been 12 weeks since surgery & I still have daily pain.  What I thought would make me pain free, I've now been told, I'm fixed but I'll still have chronic pain.  

Since surgery this pain is now from my groin down the mid thigh, & stops above the knee.   I've been told that I need to limit what I do, no lifting & no squatting.    The pre-surgery video's show people with the lives back.


My body might be fixed & "healed" but I'm still dealing with pain.  I don't want to say I'm worse, but maybe it's because I'm trying to go back to a "normal" day & my body can't handle it yet
Helpful - 0
405614 tn?1329144114
Thanks, I've been diagnosed w/MS for 9 months now, and am pretty much used to it, though I still wonder which pain is from MS and which is from orthopedic or other issues.

My pain is restricted to the right side; the nerve pain is also in my right arm.  My hip labral tear is also on the right side, as is the worse of the hip arthritis/cartilage thinning.  The sacroilliac joint instability is mostly right-sided, though now I have arthritis on both sides of the SI joint.

My sister was able to find much improvement through physical therapy and did lose quite a bit of weight.  I'm not sure what happened to stop her progress, as we haven't been in contact much.

I suppose you've tried PT; if not, you might try to find one that really understands the kind of pain you're dealing with.

It is scary when doctors can't agree.  Take the fact that the first 3 neurologists I saw didn't feel comfortable diagnosing my MS; the 4th one had me on disease modifying therapy medication 2 weeks after my first appointment with him, and he said that it was really clear and doesn't know why the others couldn't recognize it.  That I've possibly had it for 20 years!

OK, so that story doesn't really fit the pain story, but it's still very frustrating and scary; what's happened to me in the time I was searching for answers; how much has it progressed?

Back to the original pain issues; I guess they can be difficult to call.  I doubt seriously that my sister has MS and has nerve pain, but she has similar pain and has a labral tear, also.  She doesn't have the complicating knee injuries that I have, and I don't think she has hip arthritis, but she has been in a couple car accident, relatively minor but leaving lingering pain issues.

My best friend has terrible neck x-rays and MRIs, and gets horrible jolting pains in her head as well as neck pain, etc.  She went to see a neurosurgeon, who told her the head pains couldn't be coming from the neck and that unless the pain was going down her arm, surgery wouldn't help her any.  

She gave up for a while, but is now talking about going to another neurosurgeon for another opinion.  She doesn't want neck surgery, but the pain is really interfering with her life and all the PT, medications, and other efforts she's made don't help much if at all.

Just a thought; have your doctors considered that the referred pain into areas that they don't think should be caused by your hip issue could be caused by nerve impingement?  Sometimes muscles tighten up as a way to try to keep a painful joint from moving, and can pinch a nerve.  Heck, illiopsoas muscle tightening can cause lot of pain in the abdomen.

Wishing you better days!
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Avatar universal
Wow, I am so sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Was your pain restricted to one or both sides? I am awaiting my second consult with a hip surgeon, apparently there is large debate over whether it will help pain and whether it can cause pain elsewhere besides the groin and hip as I have. I am frustrated because no one can really say if this will help or not, and apparently there is a chance like you said that it can aggravate things. It's scary that no one really can agree on anything! Thanks again for the input.
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405614 tn?1329144114
Well, now I've been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and my neurologist says my pain is central nerve pain from the MS.  I've found quite a bit of relief from a combination of Lyrica and Tegretol, but that's because mine's from nerve pain.

If my hip ever gets bad enough to need a replacement, I'll see what that does in terms of pain relief.  The surgeon that I saw said that it would, so that a hip labral repair wouldn't be worth the effort, as it would barely relieve any of the pain in my case, and would probably aggravate things.

So, it sounds like my case is complicated, as usual, lol!

Have you had a consultation with a good hip surgeon?  My sister (3 yrs older than me) saw the same one as me, and she told her that if she lost 50 pounds, she would do surgery on her, and it should improve her pain.  She hasn't had it done yet, or I could relate her experience.  She can't work because of her pain.

Take care, hope things out for you. That kind of pain is just awful!

Kathy
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Avatar universal
I have similar symptoms as you both, and was just diagnosed with a labral tear as well. There is some debate among my physicians as to whether or not the tear could cause pain and burning in the abdomen/thigh areas. Wondering what the outcome was for you both, and who you saw? THANKS!!
Helpful - 0
405614 tn?1329144114
I had a pelvic MRI a few years ago that didn't show anything, though the abdominal pain was bad.  I have been through all the shots, tons of PT, heck, my muscles are so overworked that I got a small herniation trying to do some simple core strengthening muscles at PT last year.  

In December I herniated a disc in my lumbar spine, and while I was seeing my sports and spine medicine doctor, I made it clear how the pain wraps around, and goes down my thigh.  He cocked his head, and sent me first for a hip x-ray and then for the lumbar MRI and the Hip Arthrogram, sending me to a particular place and a particular radiologist, and I had an answer.  

I had some other stuff going on like seeing a neurosurgeon and a neurologist (another story), so I haven't made an appointment with the surgeon that my sports and spine doctor said was the only one here that could do a good job on my hip. I called today and left a message asking that they call me to set up a new patient appointment, and left my cell phone number.

I'll call again if they don't get back to me before lunch tomorrow.  I have a lot of stuff I want to do, and its so much easier when pain isn't overwhelming.  I know the surgery won't exactly be a picnic, but a short time of severe pain and a few months of PT are worth a great improvement in mobility and reduction in pain.

I'll be in touch.

Kathy
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Avatar universal
r79
2002?!  I'm so sorry... I've been dealing with this for three years, but it was not unbearable until about a year ago.  I've been to no less than ten different doctors... and received multiple diagnoses...and a few hands in the air that said "I haven't a clue"... which is always fun.

MRIs, xrays, injections, PT... nothing showed anything or helped.  I was actually beginning to wonder if it was all in my head.  FINALLY a doctor ordered a full pelvic MRI which showed the anterior labral tear with detachment.  Everyone had previously discounted the fact that anything could be wrong with my hip since I am so young (28).  Upon reading up on it though, I find that it is not that uncommon for a woman, of any age, to have a labral tear in her hip.  I only hope that that is truly the only problem causing all of this pain.

I will definitely let you know how my appt goes this week.  I had a very tough time getting a timely appt, and had to keep calling until there was a cancellation... so keep trying!  Make sure you make one with someone who does arthroscopy for the hip.  There are not many of them out there.... and a general hip dr. does not always do it.

Another note - I have found that pelvic floor relaxation exercises help the leg symptoms a bit.  Makes it worse in the beginning, but then begins to help.  Those muscles experience a lot of strain with any pelvic - hip or otherwise - injury.  There are PTs who specialize in this.

Please keep me posted on your progress as well!
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405614 tn?1329144114
Oh, thank you, you've helped more than you could guess!

I've been trying to get a diagnosis for right upper quadrant pain for years; maybe I tore it in my skiing accident or even way back in Judo class in college.  If so, that would explain a heck of a lot about some pain issues that no one has been able to figure out.

One doctor (in 2002!) thought that the pain down my thigh was from Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve entrapment, but the only test on it was a nerve block that reduced the pain for about a day.

Oh, I'm calling the hip surgeon that my Sports and Spine doctor reccommended as soon as her office opens on Tuesday and try to get a new patient appointment.

I hope your consult goes well.  I would love to hear how it goes, if you have the time.  Good luck to you, too,

Kathy

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Avatar universal
r79
I just received the same diagnosis (finally!) - I have had severe pain down my leg and up to the bottom of my ribcage (on bad days) for over a year and have gone mis/undiagnosed until now.  I am now told that, while these symptoms that radiate away from the hip are somewhat uncommon, they do occur when it has gone untreated for a long time.  Basically the other muscles tire from compensating for the hip injury, causing additional pain in other areas.

Hope this helps.  Good luck to you.  I am going in this week for a consult with the surgeon.

-r
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