Labral cartilage tears in your shoulder or hip can be disabling as well as painful. If you need to undergo labral repair, the highly skilled team at Northland Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in North Kansas City, Missouri, can help. Their experienced surgeons use arthroscopic techniques to carry out complex repairs with minimal tissue damage. For expert labral repairs, call Northland Orthopedics & Sports Medicine today to schedule an appointment, or use the online booking form.
Labral repair is a procedure you might need if you damage a piece of cartilage called the labrum. Both your hips and shoulders have this type of cartilage, which helps to keep the ball and socket secure in these large joints.
The labrum lines the outer rim of your hip or shoulder socket. It creates a kind of seal that keeps the ball-shaped end of your upper arm bone (the humeral head) or thigh bone (femoral head) fitting snugly in the socket. The labrum also offers a degree of cushioning to the joint.
If anything damages the labrum, it can lead to joint instability that might require surgical repair.
A frequent cause of damage to the labrum is sports injuries. However, any kind of trauma to the hip or shoulder could result in a labral tear, from falling onto an outstretched arm to an auto accident. Certain structural abnormalities can sometimes lead to labral tears as well.
In addition to acute trauma, another reason you might need a labral repair is an overuse injury. This usually occurs in patients who repeatedly make the same movements with their shoulder or hip over many years, which causes the labrum to tear or deteriorate.
In many cases, the Northland Orthopedics & Sports Medicine team can use minimally invasive arthroscopic techniques to perform labral repairs. The arthroscope they use is a slim, flexible tubular instrument that fits through a small incision in your hip or shoulder.
One the end of the arthroscope, there's a camera and a bright light. When the arthroscope is in place, your surgeon can see the labrum clearly by looking at the images coming back from the arthroscope to a screen in the operating room.
The Northland Orthopedics & Sports Medicine team can fit arthroscopic instruments through one or more other small incisions, using the video images to guide the instruments and complete the repairs.
There are several ways of repairing the labrum, depending on the type of damage and its severity.
Where possible, your surgeon at Northland Orthopedics & Sports Medicine reattaches the torn tissue with sutures. They might also need to remove some of the badly damaged tissue.
If there's an underlying problem, such as femoroacetabular impingement in the hip, it might be necessary to carry out additional work such as removing a section of bone to prevent further impingement.
If you have a labral tear that needs surgical repair, you can trust the Northland Orthopedics & Sports Medicine team. Call their office today or book an appointment online.
