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You may take your body for granted, assuming that when you need to call on it, your body will step up and do whatever’s needed. But if a major joint like your hip feels unstable or like it might give out, your movements are a lot less sure and confident.
Hip instability is a common complaint that Dr. Brian White hears quite often in his role as the resident hip preservation expert here at Western Orthopaedics. While diagnosing your hip instability from this blog post isn’t advisable — only a visit with Dr. White can properly do that — we want to give you a list of possible suspects.
Out of every 1,000 babies born in the United States, one has hip dysplasia, a condition in which the bones in the joint don’t line up correctly.
Your hip is a ball-and-socket joint where two bones come together — your femur (thighbone) and your pelvis. The top of your femur acts as the ball, and the socket is in your pelvic bone (the acetabulum). With hip dysplasia, the femoral head is off center and doesn’t line up well with the socket.
Hip dysplasia is congenital, but many people only develop symptoms in adulthood as the uneven wear and tear on the soft tissues inside the joint begin to become problematic, which can lead to hip instability and place you more at risk for hip dislocation (and more instability).
Another road to an unstable hip comes from femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), a condition in which the bones in the hip are misshapen and don’t fit together well.
FAI is associated with hip instability, and another telltale sign of a problem is a clicking sound or popping sensation in your hip.
To keep the femoral head stable, your socket features a ring of tough cartilage that seals the bone into position. If you tear this important connective tissue, you can experience hip instability. The most common cause of labral tears is the FAI we just discussed above — the mismatched bones cause friction in the labrum and can lead to damage.
About one-quarter of adults in the United States have arthritis, and joints like the hips are in the direct line of fire. With certain types of arthritis, loose bodies made from pieces of bone or cartilage can form inside your hip joint, creating problems with comfort and stability.
If you injure your hip and strain the connective tissues, such as ligaments that attach bone to bone, you can experience hip instability.
Another potential road to hip instability is an overuse injury from repeatedly stressing your hip joint, causing the connective tissues to develop tiny tears and become looser.
As you can see, there are several possibilities when it comes to hip instability. If you want to rely on stable hips again, we suggest you make an appointment with Dr. White at your earliest convenience. During this visit, Dr. White can get to the bottom of your unstable hip and get you on the road to stronger joints you can rely on.
To get started, simply contact one of our offices in Arvada or Denver, Colorado, to set up an appointment with Dr. White.
