Athletic Injuries Involving the Hip

Hip pain in the adolescent patient can be due to a variety of factors, including acute injury or chronic overuse. The current chapter will cover four common causes of pain in this population. Pelvic apophysitis commonly occurs as a chronic overuse injury resulting from overload of these pelvic growth centers. Pelvic avulsion fractures are among the most common acute injuries in this population and generally are treated with conservative methods. Athletic pubalgia, or sports hernia, occurs less commonly in the adolescent compared to adults, and is a chronic overuse condition of the abdominal wall. Acetabular labral tears are the most common surgically treated injury in the adolescent patient and generally occur as the result of underlying bony deformity including femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) or acetabular dysplasia. The current chapter will cover these injuries and their arthroscopic treatment, while FAI and acetabular dysplasia are covered in separate chapters.