Hip arthroscopy for treatment of labral tears is common in hip preservation or sports medicine practices.
Historically, labral debridement was a common treatment for labral tears. In younger patients, this has been supplanted by labral repair as the preferred technique for repairable labral tears. While there has been some controversy about the type of labral repair that is preferable (wraparound/circumferentially affixing the labrum vs. vertical mattress configuration), outcomes thus far have been equivalent. The success of any hip labral repair also depends upon adequately treating underlying femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), if present. Before undertaking hip arthroscopy for a torn labrum, the patient should have first tried reasonable conservative treatment.
