I finally found a diagnosis (two possibilities, actually) that fits my symptoms, and I'm not happy about it. It looks like I may have labral tears in both hips, one worse than the other, or something called synovial chondromatosis (less likely). In either case, surgery is the recommended treatment, something I am not ready to contemplate. I do finally understand that I must go to a doctor. Has anyone here had any experience with either condition?

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can't say I have but I'm interested in knowing what the conditions are. I have awful hip pain but from what we can figure out its due to a overliy nastily tight IT band, which then whacks my pelvis out of line and makes me stand crooked making one leg seem longer than the other.

The symptoms I have, which are not all, but most are intense hip pain deep inside the joint (especially at night), clicking or popping of the joint with movement, locking. Here are a few links:

http://www.arthroscopy.com/wwwboard/...es/17411.shtml

http://orthopaedics.hss.edu/news/articles/problem.asp

http://www.arthritis.co.za/synchondr.html

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Have you and your docs considered the possibility of trochanteric bursitis? One of its hallmarks is pain while sleeping on the affected side.

Mind you, I'm not a doctor but I play one on the internet and I have hip pain myself

I may have that also, but the popping and locking are not at all symptomatic of trochanteric bursitis, and that is happening daily.

I did have trochanteric bursitis about 15 years ago, and I'm wondering now if the fall that caused it may have contributed to my current problem.

I'm definitely seeing a specialist ASAP.

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I had a labral tear in my hip joint about 4-5 years ago and had hip scope surgery for it. Labral tears can be hard to see on a regular MRI, but I had an MRI with a contrast injection in the joint and then it showed up. At the time, I had seen three different doctors before it got properly diagnosed. The surgery was outpatient and kept me out of work for about a week. I was out of commision exercise wise for about 6 weeks. The surgery was pretty successful, although I had some hip pain after it from having a muscle inbalance. That pretty much worked itself out after some physical therapy and once I got active again. My understanding is that if you do not have a scope to remove the torn cartilage, it can lead to issues with arthritis later in life. Plus, there really is no other way to completely treat it.

Thanks for the info. I had read about the need for a contrast injection with the MRI, but have seen wildly varying reports of recovery times after surgery. Six weeks is a lot more than I am willing to give up unless absolutely necessary, and it's one of the smaller recovery times I've seen. I'm afraid I may already have those arthritis issues, and already be in what people refer to as "later in life", as I'm 57. I do hope to stay as active as possible for as long as possible though, so it's off to the doctor for me.

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If you are unwilling to do surgery, you might get some relief from Physical Therapy or cortisone injections. I found that ultrasound helped some (but not a ton). When they did the contrast injection, they also injected cortisone in the joint as an extra diagnostic. Basically, if the cortisone worked, it would indicate that the problem was in the joint. My hip then felt great for the weeks between the MRI and the surgery. The problem though is that it is an invasive (and rather uncomfortable/painful) procedure to inject something in the hip joint and it has to be done at a hospital using an x-ray to guide the needle. It provided great pain relief, but I would not have been willing to do it regularly (Cortisone will last about 4-6 weeks).

I hope you can find something that helps!

Ugh! It doesn't look like there is any easy solution to this particular problem except to keep popping the ibuprofen, and that isn't going to make it go away forever. Thank you Carleenp, for all the very useful information.

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No problem. I am like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to hip joint injuries! If you are taking ibuprofen, you might ask the Dr. for Vioxx. It is a similar, but stronger anti-inflamatory and pain medication. I thought it also helped me some before I had the surgery.

If he won't do Vioxx, Celebrex works good also. My Dr. prescribed Celebrex for my poor right knee last fall (I guess Vioxx wasn't in the right formulary for my health insurance or something) and it definitely helped. Other than the occasional noise from cartilage rubbing when I try to do squats or the like, no real problems.

I have taken Celebrex too. I think it works very similar to Vioxx. Both are anti-inflamatory pain relievers. The downside is that both can cause stomach upset or ulcers over time. I didn't encounter those problems with either though.

So can Ibuprofen (Motrin/Advil). USAF clinics used to prescribe 600 mg Ibuprofen for any semi-major ache and pain... to the degree that one of my friends nicknamed it "Vitamin M."

That's it, allright. I have Vitamin M with me all the time and in addition to 600 mg every night, I take it immediately if I've had a splat.

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I thought I'd share some info for anyone who was interested. I am a nurse in an operating room, and I participated in the first two hip arthroscopies that were done at my hospital a couple of weeks ago. I heard yesterday from the surgeon that performed them that on the patient that had a labral tear, that the surgery was so successfull, the patient wants the other hip done as well. This was less than 2 weeks after surgery. The surgeons said, that with labral tears, arthroscopic surgery works wonders in hip joints. Thought some of you might be interested in hearing an anecdotal story.

Also, Celebrex, Vioxx, and another drug called Bextra are a specific group of anti-inflammatory drugs that are less likely to cause the stomach upset and ulcers that other more tradiional anti-inflammatories, including Motrin, do. It is a matter of trying several and finding out what works for you. I've taken several prescription anti-inflammatories, and live on Motrin at times.

RNsk8r, thanks for the very interesting info.

I looked up sports med docs in my health care providers book (supplied by ins company), and found only one in my immediate area. I'll have to ask my family practitioner about him. Meanwhile, with 600 mg ibuprofen two or three times a day, my hip pain is almost gone, and so is most of the clicking and locking. I don't understand that at all. I can see how the ibuprofen would reduce pain, but why would it affect a mechanical symptom like clicking or locking?

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dbny,
My orthopedist had told me that you need to be in the 600 mg range of Ibuprofen in order to get true anti-inflammatory effects. So, if you're taking it only twice a day, you might want to take it consistently 3 times a day. Maybe then the pain would go away completely.

As for the clicking and popping, I noticed that when I've been taking it (for tendonitis in my ankle) it seemed like all my joints worked better and more smoothly, even though I hadn't noticed any particular problems prior to taking the ibuprofen. I thought it seemed like everything was more lubricated. I guess that was because of some sort of inflammation, albeit low grade. Maybe if some of the inflammation is gone in your case, it allows more freedom of motion in the joint.

Good luck with it,
Pat

I've suffered (and am still suffering) from pain in my right hip. To save me from going over it all again you can read my thread entitled Hip Problems. If you do a search you will find it.

Nicki

I take 600 mg (3 OTC tabs) at once, two or three times a day!

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I remembered that thread after looking it up. For anyone else who is interested it is HIP PAIN

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Yes, I understood that you were taking the 3 OTC tablets at once. What I meant was that you might try taking it consistently 3 times a day, whether your hip hurts or not. If you only do it twice a day, the level in your bloodstream will drop below the effective level.

I took prescription strength, 600 mg, 3 times a day for several weeks under my doctor's instructions, for tendonitis in my ankle.

Pat

Guess I'm the one who misunderstood
I do try to take the 600mg three times a day, but sometimes I forget to take the afternoon dose. Previously I found that it took three times a day to get full relief, and then just the 600 mg at night to maintain it. It only took about five or six days without that daily dose to go totally awry

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Yep, see? Just what my orthopedist said.

Hang in there; I hope you can get some true relief soon!

Pat

My family practitioner recommended a sports med doc who is listed with my insurance as an orthopedic surgeon, so I went to see him today. After the exam and some x-rays, he told me that he agrees with me on what is probably wrong . The x-rays, fortunately, do not show any damage. I'm going for MRI's of both hips, and then will be referred to an even more specialized specialist if necessary.

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Is it a problem when you have no hip pain, but it pops all the time?
Cid