Further measures
Further measures to relieve the painful hip are manual measures such as traction, in which the joint is slightly pulled apart, and the massage of surrounding tense muscles. If the hip impingement is too pronounced, conservative therapy is not effective or exercise is no longer possible, surgery must be considered to avoid painful long-term damage.
Treatment by surgery
During hip impingement surgery, the excess bone mass, which is the cause of the impact and lack of space, is separated. Either from the joint lip in the case of pincer impingement or from the joint head in the case of cam impingement, so that it is round again and fits optimally into the socket without causing discomfort during movement. However, this is an open and rather complex operation, which results in a lengthy healing process (up to 6 months to get back to everyday life and work).
However, the results are usually positive after the regeneration period has been observed. After the operation, full range of motion can and should be exercised, pain disappears and exercise of the originally responsible sport becomes possible again. Nevertheless, compensatory exercises and regeneration times should always be considered.
Symptoms
In order to make the clinical picture of impingement at the hip easier to understand, the name is given first and then the anatomy, i.e. the structure of the hip, is briefly explained. The word impingement comes from the English language and means as much as colliding, hitting, pinching. The hip is the joint between the pelvis and the thigh, thus connecting the trunk with the legs.
The upper end of the thigh bone is formed like a ball. The other joint partner – the pelvic bone – is shaped like a hollow hemisphere and thus forms the joint socket. In order to ensure more stability, the socket is slightly enlarged by a cartilage ring, a so-called joint lip, which surrounds the head of the femur.
This spherical structure allows the hip joint to move in all degrees of freedom. By striking and pinching the joint partners during movement, painful restrictions of movement and pain in the groin initially occur. Mostly occurring in strong flexion and internal rotation.
But that is not all. If the clinical picture persists for a long time, the joint cartilage is gradually damaged. The constant irritation causes inflammation and the damaged cartilage runs the risk of developing arthrosis. Resting positions are assumed, which leads to further surrounding tension and eventually to unphysiological structural changes. The article “Groin pain” might also be of interest to you in this respect
