Skip to main content
Log in

A preliminary report on prevalence of acetabular labrum tears in sports patients with groin pain

  • Sports Medicine
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

To the best of our knowledge, this prospective study is the first to investigate the prevalence of acetabular labrum tears in athletes presenting with groin pain. Eighteen athletes who presented to our sports clinic with groin pain, underwent clinical assessment and magnetic resonance arthrography (MRa) to detect presence or absence of acetabular labrum tears. Ethical committee approval and informed consent was obtained from each patient. In four out of these eighteen athletes (22%) the MRa demonstrated the presence of acetabular labrum tear. Three of them underwent arthroscopic debridement of their acetabular labrum tears and returned to their sporting activities within 8 months. Clicking sensation of the hip was a sensitive (100%) and specific (85%) clinical symptom to predict labral tears. The internal rotation-flexion-axial compression manoeuvre was sensitive (75%) but not specific (43%). The Thomas test was neither sensitive nor specific. The conclusion of the study is that acetabular labrum tears can be a common cause of groin pain in athletes. Sports clinicians managing athletes with groin pain have to be well aware of the condition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aydingoz U, Ozturk MH (2001) MR imaging of the acetabular labrum: a comparative study of both hips in 180 asymptomatic volunteers. Eur Radiol 211:567–574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Byrd JW (1996) Labral lesions: an elusive source of hip pain: case report and literature review. Arthroscopy 12:603–612

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Czerny C, Hofmann S, Neuhold A, Tschauner C, Engel A, Recht M, Kramer J (1996) Lesions of the acetabular labrum: accuracy of MR arthrography in detection and staging. Radiology 200:225–230

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Dorrell JH, Catterall A (1986) The torn acetabular labrum. J Bone Joint Surg Br 68:400–403

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Ekberg O, Persson, NH, Abrahamsson P, Westlin NE, Lilga B (1988) Longstanding groin pain in athletes. Sports Med 6:56–61

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Farjo LA, Glick JM, Sampson TG (1999) Hip arthroscopy for acetabular labrum tears. Arthroscopy 15:132–137

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Fitzgerald RH (1995) Acetabular labrum tears. Diagnosis and treatment. Clin Orthop 311:60–68

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Fredberg U, Kissmeyer-Nielsen P (1996) The sportman's hernia: fact or fiction? Scand J Med Sci Sports 6:201–204

    Google Scholar 

  9. Fricker PA. (1997) Management of groin pain in athletes. Br J Sports Med 31:97–101

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Gilmore J (1996) A pain in the groin. Sports Med 2:1-3

    Google Scholar 

  11. Greenhill BJ, Hugosson C, Jacobsson B, Ellis RD (1993) Magnetic resonance imaging study of acetabular morphology in development dysplasia of the hip. J Pediatr Orthop 13:314–317

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hase T, Ueo T (1999) Acetabular labral tear. Arthroscopic diagnosis and treatment. Arthroscopy 15:138–141

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Hodler J, Yu JS, Goodwin D, Haghighi P, Trudell D, Resnick D (1995) MR arthrography of the hip: improved imaging of the acetabular labrum with histological correlation. AJR 165:887–891

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hofmann S, Tschauner C, Urban M, Eder T, Czerny C (1998) Clinical and radiological diagnosis of lesions of the labrum of the hip. Orthopade 27:681–689

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ikeda T, Awaya G, Suzuki S, Okada Y, Tada H (1998) Torn acetabular labrum in young patients: arthroscopic diagnosis and management. J Bone Joint Surg Br 70:13–16

    Google Scholar 

  16. Klaue K, Durni CW, Ganz R (1991) The acetabular rim syndrome: a clinical presentation of dysplasia of the hip. J Bone Joint Surg Br 73:423–429

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Lage LA, Patel JV, Villar RN (1996) The acetabular labral tear: an arthroscopic classification. Arthroscopy 12:269–272

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Leunig M, Werlen S, Ungersbock A, Ito K, Ganz R (1997) Evaluation of the acetabulum labrum by MR arthrography. J Bone Joint Surg Br 79:230–234

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Lovell G (1995) The diagnosis of chronic groin pain in athletes: a review of 189 cases. Aust J Sci Med Sport 27:76–79

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Lynch SA, Renstrom PAFH (1999) Groin injuries in sport. Sports Med 28:187–144

    Google Scholar 

  21. McCarthy JC, Busconi B (1995) The role of hip arthroscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of hip disease. Can J Surg 38:S13–17

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. McCarthy JC, Noble PC, Wright J, Lee JA ( 2001) The role of labral lesions in the development of early degenerative hip disease. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery, San Francisco. Poster presentation

  23. Narvani AA, Tsiridis E, Tai CC, Thomas P (2003) Acetabular labrum and its tears. Br J Sports Med 37:207-211

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Nishina T, Saito S, Ohzono K, Shimizu N, Hosoya T, Ono K (1990) Chiari pelvic osteotomy for osteoarthritis: the influence of torn and detached acetabular labrum. J Bone Joint Surg Br 72:765–769

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Paterson I (1957) The torn acetabular labrum: a block to reduction of a dislocated hip. J Bone Joint Surg Br 39:306–309

    Google Scholar 

  26. Petersilge CA, Haque MA, Petersilge WJ, Lewin JS, Lieberman JM, Buly R (1996) Acetabular labrum tears: evaluation with MR arthrography. Radiology 200:225–230

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Plotz GM, Brossmann J, Schunke M, Heller M, Kurz B, Hassenpflug J (2000) Magnetic resonance arthrography of acetabulum labrum. J Bone Joint Surg Br 82:426–432

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Renstrom PAFH (1992) Tendon and muscle injuries in the groin area. Clin Sports Med 11:815–831

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Santori N, Villar RN (2000) Acetabular labral tears: results of arthroscopic partial limbectomy. Arthroscopy 16:11–15

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Seldes RM, Tan V, Hunt J, Katz M, Winiarsky R, Fitzgerald RH (2001) Anatomy, histological features, and vascularity of the adult acetabular labrum. Clin Orthop 382:232–240

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Villar R (1992) The technique of hip arthroscopy. In: Hip arthroscopy. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, pp 39–52

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. A. Narvani.

Additional information

This paper results from work at the School of Exercise & Health, University College of London (Archway Campus), University of London

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Narvani, A.A., Tsiridis, E., Kendall, S. et al. A preliminary report on prevalence of acetabular labrum tears in sports patients with groin pain. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 11, 403–408 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-003-0390-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-003-0390-7

Keywords

Navigation