Hip Evaluation: Complete Diagnosis and Treatment

A detailed history-taking and clinical examination can help to localise the pathology that leads to the pain.

Pain can arise from the following anatomical regions:

1. Muscles, tendons or ligaments - these are usually due to overuse injuries, and most will resolve with sufficient rest, stretches and massage therapy.
2. Labrum - this is a structure that lines the hip socket and keeps the femoral head centrally placed. It can be from a traumatic injury or from degeneration. Severe forms of this type of injury may require keyhole surgery to repair.
3. Cartilage - this is a layer of smooth solid coating in the hip joint. This can arise from traumatic sports injuries or from age-related changes, though more commonly seen in the latter. Having an underlying anatomical variation like a shallow hip socket, or underlying pathology such as bone necrosis/death can also predispose to earlier cartilage wear.
4. Bone - Bony injuries such fractures can occur around the hip too, though these are more commonly seen in elderly patients with underlying osteoporosis.

After taking a detailed history and clinical examination, imaging in the form Xrays or MRIs may be required to add critical information in the analysis of your clinical problems.

Once evaluation is completed, we will advise you on further treatment. Treatment options can range from oral anti-inflammatory medications and muscle relaxants, to recommendations for physiotherapy for appropriate hip stretches and strengthening exercises, to ultrasound/fluoroscopy guided injections, keyhole hip surgery to finally muscle-sparing joint replacement surgery.

At Hip & Knee Orthopaedics, we recommend treatment options based on your disease condition and your clinical profile. We believe that in doing so, we can achieve clinical success and patient satisfaction. Both our doctors are double-fellowship trained with extensive experience in managing complex hip and knee problems, thus are well-positioned to evaluate and manage your hip pain.