My hip hurts, can I suffer femoroacetabular shock

Femoroacetabular impingement is a pathology that has recently become known. It causes hip osteoarthritis in young adult patients without dysplasia, although currently the vast majority of patients under 55 years of age with hip osteoarthritis can be cured satisfactorily with an early diagnosis. Dr. Gimeno Abad, expert in Traumatology, talks about hip pain and its treatment.

What is femoroacetabular impingement?

This pathology affects, above all, young and active patients, as well as athletes. That is why specialists in traumatology place special emphasis on the importance of establishing an early diagnosis, since in this way therapeutic techniques can be applied that provide a better quality of life.

The hip is responsible for transmitting the load from the trunk to the lower extremities, as well as the mobility of the lower extremities. It does not require a large impact to overload a hip. Active flexion movements such as kicking, running, chopping and passive movements such as sitting, which combines flexion, with abduction, internal rotation (sitting in a car) and external rotation, which will determine in different situations the CFA.

The articular mechanics depend at all times on the morphology of the hip, something that will interfere in the affectation of this. It can affect both the acetabulum by means of an overcoverage, partial in the retroverte hip or total in the deep hip, manifesting itself in a more notorious way among women. In the femur the most frequent will be the deformity in “pistol grip” or “hump” of the femoral head.

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Symptoms and treatment for femorocetabular impingement

This pathology is manifested by groin or C-shaped pain in the hip, always related to movement or sitting. For this reason, the success of the treatment of CFA depends on an accurate and early diagnosis to avoid, as far as possible, the need for a total hip replacement in a young adult.

Treatment is aimed at eliminating the causes of CFA, known as “osteochondroplasia” or “femoroacetabular osteoplasty”. Depending on the degree of deformity and severity of each case, surgery can be performed by arthroscopic techniques or open surgery. Early diagnosis will contribute to minimally invasive surgery and much more favorable results.

Hip arthroscopy is a surgical technique that is beginning to be used, but not yet performed by all orthopedic surgeons. The advantages over conventional techniques are based on reduced incisions, limited soft tissue dissection, better pathology definition and more tolerable aggressive postoperative therapy. Despite the advantages of this technique, the procedure is very technically demanding and requires meticulous attention, but the results obtained are excellent.

Therefore, if the patient has constant hip pain, he/she should see an orthopedic surgeon to establish a diagnosis of the problem.