The hip joint

The Hip Joint is a complex ball-and-socket Joint. Acute injuries can affect either the bones and/or the soft tissues around the hip joint. These can vary from fractures and dislocations to muscle avulsions. The fractures need urgent clinical and radiological assessment and individualised treatment. Avulsion injuries commonly affect adductor or hamstring group of muscles. These are commonly incomplete injuries and are treated by non-operative methods.

In majority of the patients, groin symptoms are long-standing in nature. These represent chronic clinical conditions like hip joint arthritis, hip impingement, shallow sockets (Hip Dysplasia) etc. Clinical and radiological assessments by the specialist are needed to identify and treat these conditions. Appropriate treatment ensures good long-term results.

The diagnosis and treatment of hip disorders has seen major changes in the last decade. Hip impingement is a new concept and its diagnosis and treatment have revolutionised the hip subspecialty. Hip arthroscopic techniques continue to improve in line with the advances in instrumentation. The successful diagnosis and treatment of shallow sockets (Hip Dysplasia) has improved the results in such patients and enabled them to lead a near normal life.

Total hip arthroplasty, continues to be a successful quality of life improvement procedure.