About Hip Dysplasia

In acetabular dysplasia the hip socket is poorly developed, resulting in a socket that is shallow and shaped like a saucer, rather than a cup. The top of the socket is obliquely inclined, and incompletely covers the ball. This results in abnormally high stress on the outer edge of the socket (also called acetabulum) and leads to early damage to the acetabular articular cartilage (white substance on the end of a chicken bone) or the adjacent acetabular labrum. The labrum is a soft tissue bumper that attaches to the rim of the socket. Once this damage occurs, people often begin experiencing hip pain.

Most people with acetabular dysplasia do not have hip pain during childhood, but many develop pain during adolescence and early adulthood. The pain is typically dull and achy and may be in the groin, side of hip or buttock. Occasionally patients will feel sharp catching pain along with the aching pain.

A hip dysplasia diagnosis is confirmed with an x-ray. An MRI or MRI arthrogram (MRI with dye placed in the hip joint) can assess the condition of the joint cartilage and labrum.

Help is available if you have hip dysplasia — learn more about your treatment options.

To learn more about hip dysplasia, visit the International Hip Dysplasia Institute.

My husband and I married in 2016 with a bucket list of traveling and hiking plans. Shortly after our honeymoon, I started to experience pain in my left hip. The pain eventually became so bad that I was not able to walk through the grocery store. After trying physical therapy and a few other doctors, I was finally referred to Dr. Ellis and in July of 2017, he diagnosed me with Hip Dysplasia in both hips, but it was worse in my left. I underwent my left PAO and labrum repair surgery in November 2017. I was finally recovered and feeling ready for physical activity again by the summer of 2018, but I was starting to feel the same pain that I had felt in my left hip, in my right hip. In the spring of 2019, I decided to see Dr. Ellis about my right hip and I scheduled my right hip PAO and labrum repair in June. This recovery was much easier and I was cleared to start running by November of 2019! Finally I was healthy and my husband and I decided to book our first hike, to Patagonia.On March 9, 2020, we started an 8 day, 80 mile, backpacking trip through Torres del Paine. We saw mountains, glaciers, forests covered in moss, drank glacier water, and loved every second of it! Once we finished our hike through Torres del Paine, we were supposed to go to Argentina to hike more, but unfortunately with Covid-19, we were not able to make it into the country and had to cut our trip short. But most importantly, I was able to make it through the whole hike through Torres del Paine with no hip pain! Thank you so much Dr. Ellis and his team for everything you have done for me! My husband and I are already planning our next hike and we wouldn't be able to do any this without you!

Andrea Walker

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My daughter, who was 14 at the time, was having hip pain during volleyball season in the fall of 2019. After volleyball, she was in extreme pain and it was making her life difficult.

We took her to a doctor who said she had snapping hip syndrome and needed physical therapy. After a few weeks, her therapist was not satisfied with her progression and recommended that she have an MRI. Once the MRI was complete, the doctor couldn't find any aliments aside from snapping hip and said if she was having more pain she could try injections. I was not thrilled with the idea of my 14-year old daughter getting injections.

Our therapist recommended making an appointment with Dr. Thomas Ellis to get a second opinion. Dr. Ellis looked at the same MRI images as the first doctor and could see that she had slight hip dysplasia which caused her to have snapping hip, CAMs, and a torn labrum. Dr. Ellis and his team performed surgery on her right hip at Dublin Methodist Hospital in January 2020, and she was able to play volleyball in the fall of 2020. Dr. Ellis performed the same procedure on her left hip in October 2020. She is about a month or so away from recovery and heading on to do great things without pain!

Thank God for second opinions, Dr. Ellis, and his amazing team!

Anonymous

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