Hip Labral Tear Stretches

What is labral tear in the hip?

According to the Cleveland Clinic: 

"The hip is shaped like a ball-and-socket. The socket is called the acetabulum, and the ball is the femoral head, located at the top of the femur (leg bone). A hip labral tear is an injury to the labrum, the soft tissue that covers the acetabulum.

The labrum helps the femoral head move smoothly within the socket. It lets your hip move without problems or pain. It also serves as a seal, keeping the ball and socket together but not touching."

What causes a hip labral tear?

According to the Cleveland Clinic: 

"Hip labral tears can be caused by many things, including the following:

• Structural ailments: Conditions that cause abnormal hip movement can also lead to hip labral tears. In femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), the femoral head doesn’t fit into the socket properly. This imperfect fit can cause long-lasting groin pain and movement limitations. This is the most common cause of labral tears. FAI can affect people at any age. Without treatment, it can result in osteoarthritis in some patients.
• Injury: Trauma to the hip can lead to a hip labral tear. This can happen to people who play certain sports that have repetitive and high-impact movements, such as ice hockey, football, soccer and golf.
• Degenerative health conditions: Osteoarthritis is a chronic (long-term) wearing down of the cartilage between the joints. As cartilage slowly erodes over time, it becomes more prone to tearing. Older age and excessive weight can increase a person’s risk for developing osteoarthritis. People with osteoarthritis commonly have pain and stiffness in more than one joint (the hip and knee, for example).

Symptoms of a hip labral tear: 

• Hip pain or stiffness
• Pain in the groin or buttocks area
• A clicking or locking sound in the hip area when you move
• Feeling unsteady on your feet

If you have a hip labral tear, hip pain or discomfort may get worse when you bend, move or rotate the hip, or exercise or play sports. It’s also possible to have a hip labral tear with no symptoms at all."

Should you stretch a labrum tear?

Can I exercise with a torn hip labrum?

What helps with hip labral tear pain?

Should you stretch a labrum tear?

Yes and no... 

You should almost never stretch directly into an injured joint. At Bendable Body, our stretches stay out of joint structures and target unhealthy fascia that has accumulated in nearby muscle tissue. So if you are wondering 'can I exercise with a torn hip labrum?' or what helps with hip labral tear pain, the answer is resistance stretching for the specific muscle groups that are going to take the pressure off of your hip and tear and allow it to both get some space and relief and to heal. 

When people have pain and especially pain with an a clear injury, they are often afraid to do something that will make it worse. We see this all the time. Here's the deal: Bendable Body stretches protect you from pain and injury and avoid painful and injured areas. It all comes down to the fascia. 

As you probably know by now, you can't feel your fascia. As we often say, no one goes to the doctor and says 'my fascia is killing me!'. But this tissue, that you can't feel, is having a huge impact on the other tissues, joints, tendons, ligaments and bones that you can feel. When your fascia becomes hard, dry, stiff - unhealthy basically - it binds, weakens and stiffens your muscles. It does this because it is intertwined and surrounding every muscle fiber in your body. When your muscles have an accumulation of unhealthy fascia, they don't work well. They are weak and lack flexibility and optimal movement. So what happens? Well, you keep moving and the movement happens in excess at the nearby joint. When this happens things like tears in the labrum show up. 

The solution isn't to stretch or strengthen the hip joint... don't do that! Stay away from the tear. Instead do some Bendable Body stretches for the muscle groups regulating movement at the hip joint and remove some of the dense fascia so those muscles groups can work better and take pressure off of the joint. And you don't have to be afraid, because you won't be near the injury!