Hip pain in young athletes: Q & A with a sports medicine specialist

When your child plays a sport, it’s often hard to tell where everyday aches and pains end and a potentially serious injury begins. Bumps and bruises are anything but rare in contact sports, and muscle soreness can be a common complaint for any young athlete — especially given the rigor of youth athletics these days. So how do you know when your child’s hip pain is due to an actual injury?
Dr. Mininder Kocher, orthopedic surgeon and Associate Director of the Sports Medicine Division at Boston Children’s Hospital, helps answer parents’ questions about hip pain in young athletes.

What are some of the more common hip injuries you see in young athletes?
The hip is a complex joint, so we see many types of injuries, both outside and inside the joint. Some of the injuries outside the joint are more minor, like muscle strains, tendinitis, or bursitis.
Then we have problems inside the joint that can cause hip pain, like a labral tear — which is when the cartilage on the outside rim of your hip socket is torn. The labrum is typically torn in the front of the hip, usually from repetitive overuse. Labral tears are often associated with underlying anatomical issues, such as hip impingement and hip dysplasia.
Hip impingement is when either one or both of the bones in the hip joint is deformed, causing damaging friction inside the joint.
Hip dysplasia occurs when the hip socket doesn’t properly cover the ball of the femur, so increased pressure is put on the outside of the la...

Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - October 3, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Connor Ertz Tags: Ask the Expert Child and Young Adult Hip Preservation Program Division of Sports Medicine Dr. Mininder Kocher FAI femoracetabular impingement hip dysplasia hip impingement labral tear Source Type: news