I currently present an on demand and live webinar intended for physical therapists through Allied Health Education (www.alliedhealthed.com) on femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) regarding the recognition of this condition and current treatment principles.   Currently, I see on average 3-5 new patients per month with acetabular labral tears and/or those recovering from hip arthroscopy for this issue. As such, I am always staying abreast of the current literature on it.

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There is a new research design study that was just published in the August 2014 edition of the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy regarding hip pain as it relates to these patients. Specifically, the authors point out that some but not all of the hip pain may be attributed to intra-articular pathology. They suggest that extra-articular contributions from soft tissue (or myofascial pain) may account for hip pain thereby making the diagnosis and assessment of these patients even more complex.

The authors raise some interesting questions about lingering posterolateral hip pain that does not respond to injections or arthroscopy at all. Further, they assert that these patients may have more than one source of hip pain, as well as the possibility that the true source of the pain may not be related to the labrum at all. based on their experience they find that taut and tender gluteal, external rotator and tensor fascia latae (TFL) muscles are present in people with acetabular labral tears who also present with posterolateral hip pain. Previous research has identified myofascial taut bands or nodules as sources of such pain.


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