I have just been diagnosed with acetabular impingement, degenerative lateral tear, chondral loss of the femoral head and osteoarthritis having had a arthrogram/MRI after 3 years of constant pain and asking my GP to do something about it instead of pills.
What will be in terms of treatment, OA is quite advanced, walking, pain from the start and 30 meters before i buckle.
I cant make heads or tail on what the Dr said so i need it in simple terms if someone can explain please.
'Acetabular impingement' means the edges of the hip joint are pinching together.
'Chondral loss of femoral head' means that the cartillage surface of the leg bone is wearing thin. How thin is probably the biggest indicator to my mind of what could be done to help.
'Osteoarthritis' really covers the above. They are both aspects of 'wear and tear' to the joint, a term I dislike because it implies this is a dead structure like a ball-joint in a car, when in fact it it living tissue, and is constantly changing and re-modelling, albeit slowly.
For what it's worth, many people have all the symptoms and none of the actual findings. Conversely, many people are found to have this 'wear and tear', and have no symptoms. So what else is going on to make a difference that can't be seen on the images? That's a big subject too, but may offer inroads to helping the situation.
Thanks for the reply, that info has made it plain and simple and clear for me
You're welcome. I forgot to mention 'lateral tear', which I suspect should be 'labral tear', or damage to the labrum, which is the cartilage rim of the socket (acetabulum)
I was also been diagnosed with hip impingement 3 years ago after 11 years in pain. Unfortunately the arthritis was so bad i had to have a THR 2 years ago. I am now in pain with my other hip and am waiting a second hip replacement and like you i cant walk very far at all. At 38 i am young for this but i want a better quality of life and be able to play with my children and live a normal life again x
Hi Jackieh
Welcome to HP. Sorry to hear about you OA, not nice, especially at your young age.
Have you thought of seeing a nutritional therapist? There are all sorts of strategies that could help you. This is well researched and could make all the difference. Not only that there are some herbal remedies which can make a big difference (food extracts). Find a nutritional therapist near you . You could also look at the books [url]here, particularly 'Say No to Arthritis'[/url]. Unfortunately doctors have no idea - food isn't a pharmaceutical - so they don't have time to read info on how food can make a difference even though research is on-going.
Hope you get some answers soon.