This 2009 JBJS current concepts review by Beaulé et al. synthesizes the anatomy, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of acetabular labral tears. It addresses why labral tears are rarely isolated injuries and when hip arthroscopy is the right intervention.
Any young adult presenting with anterior groin pain and a positive impingement sign deserves a structured radiographic workup — AP pelvis plus a lateral (cross-table or Dunn view). Before labral pathology is attributed to an isolated structural problem.
When you find a labral tear on MR arthrography, look harder for the osseous cause. The majority of tears have FAI (cam or pincer) or dysplasia as the driver, and failing to correct the osseous abnormality is the most common reason patients return with persistent pain after arthroscopy.
Joint space narrowing >2 mm is a contraindication to hip arthroscopy. These patients are not candidates for joint-preserving labral treatment. This review established the principle that labral preservation (refixation) outperforms resection when correction of acetabular overcoverage is required, a concept now foundational to modern FAI surgery and validated by Espinosa et al.'s comparative data.
This 2009 JBJS current concepts review by Beaulé et al. synthesizes the anatomy, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of acetabular labral tears. It addresses why labral tears are rarely isolated injuries and when hip arthroscopy is the right intervention.
Any young adult presenting with anterior groin pain and a positive impingement sign deserves a structured radiographic workup — AP pelvis plus a lateral (cross-table or Dunn view). Before labral pathology is attributed to an isolated structural problem.
When you find a labral tear on MR arthrography, look harder for the osseous cause. The majority of tears have FAI (cam or pincer) or dysplasia as the driver, and failing to correct the osseous abnormality is the most common reason patients return with persistent pain after arthroscopy.
Joint space narrowing >2 mm is a contraindication to hip arthroscopy. These patients are not candidates for joint-preserving labral treatment. This review established the principle that labral preservation (refixation) outperforms resection when correction of acetabular overcoverage is required, a concept now foundational to modern FAI surgery and validated by Espinosa et al.'s comparative data.