Labral Tear in The Acetabulofemoral Joint in A Collegiate Female Athlete: A Case Study

This case investigates ongoing hip pain in a female collegiate beach volleyball athlete. The initial assessment, after thorough evaluation by the university’s athletic training staff, was iliotibial band tightness with concern of a tear of the patient’s acetabular labrum. The patient was religious to rehabilitation, performing it at least 3 times a week for 3 weeks, and was still having post-activity pain in her hip. The athletic trainers referred the patient to the team physician, who ordered a magnetic resonance arthrogram. Imaging revealed a tear in the patient’s acetabular labrum which left her devastated. She had two bouts of mild depressive symptoms after the initial and final diagnosis. Each bout of symptoms was cleared up through a verbal conversation with the athletic training staff, that weighed the importance of volleyball in relation to having pain for the rest of the patient’s life. The patient still held volleyball as a high priority and decided to have surgical repair of her acetabular labrum after her time allowance as a collegiate athlete had expired. Surgical intervention is the greatest treatment for an acetabular labral tear and should be performed as acutely as possible, in order to reduce additional damage to the cartilage of the joint capsule. This patient only had one symptom of a labral tear during the initial evaluation, but this pathology was kept in her differential diagnosis due to the inability to rule it out until a magnetic resonance arthrogram was performed. The signs of a mental illness shown by this patient were addressed early by the athletic training staff. The symptoms did not progress, nor did they ever become severe enough for the athletic trainers to seek help from a mental health professional.

Keywords: Patient Education; Emotional Wellness; Mental Health