Did I dislocate my hip?

msimrak,

It is very difficult to dislocate a normal hip joint. It takes a great amount of energy. It usually occurs in incidences like when a passenger in a car hits the dashboard during an accident.

You do not say if your splits were with the legs out to the sides, or with one leg in front, one in back. With the legs out to the sides, the femoral head (ball) is actually being pressed into the socket, so it could not dislocate that way, unless you went passed the horizontal (toes up by ears on the side). With the one front, one back, the leg going out in front would be the only one in a position to maybe sublux (move part of the way out of joint).

If you had totally dislocated your hip, you would not have gotten up off the floor. You would not have been able to move the hip joint at all. You would have to have been taken to the hospital to have the hip reduced (put back in place). The hip joint is a true ball and socket joint. So, it has a bony architecture that keeps it in place, along with a cartilage rim (labrum) that deepens the socket and grasps the head of the femur. And the joint is surrounded by a very stout capsule and very strong ligaments, not to mention the muscles around the joint. Thus, it is a very stable construct.


It sounds more likely that you may have torn a tendon attachment (which can sound like a sharp snap, pop, or crack or is some cases more like a ripping sound), which then allowed more motion. The tendon would reattach itself over a little time, but you would be very sore for a few weeks.

You might have subluxed the hip, that could have caused a clunk sound upon relocating itself. But, it would not have given you the extra range of motion.


Again, is sounds more like you tore one of the tendon attachments off the bone, or snapped one of the tendons in midsubstance. Which is a significant injury itself. And later on, that tendon may not stretch as mush as before, because it would have healed with scar tissue.

Also, if you did sublux the hip, you may have torn the labrum, the cartilage rim around the outside of the hip socket (acetabulum).


You might want to see an orthopedic surgeon sub-specialty trained in hip surgery. You should have a thorough evaluation, with possibly an MRI of the hip, to look at the labrum. Labral tears have become the newest "hip problem" in the literature. usually associated with femoral acetabular impingement (FAI), but not always.

Good luck.

Has anyone injured their hip joint so that there is intermittent crippling..ie: you can't walk or put weight on the leg until you work it out? If so how did you deal with it? I got an arthrographic MRI and it shows labrum damage and related injuries, but never was able to discuss this with a doctor re: the connection between the crippling and the film evidence. So outside of a THR, which I consider a bad choice in my case....I don't know what to do.

I'm not sure if you're still having this problem, but I am a dancer also. March 12, 2012, I dislocated my hip doing the splits as well. I wasn't flexible enough to do them and I was a little less than a foot off the ground and I randomly just fell down and I felt something crack. I'm also double jointed in my hips, I'm not sure if you are? But I definitely felt my hip go out of place. I got up and I could feel it entirely out and my boyfriend carried me to some stairs and I walked around a little bit and it put itself back in. It was very painful to walk for a few weeks, but then it went away. So, I'm not entirely sure why yours is still hurting so bad? I attempted to go to a chiropractor but it didn't help me at all and made it hurt a lot more. I wasn't able to, and I'm still not able to run or do harsh things.
I did actually go to an osteopath though, and she felt around and loosened all of my muscles and realigned my spine and moved my hips around. This did wonders! I felt a little sore afterwards, but in the long run it felt magnificent. If you're still in that much pain, you should consider going to one.
I really hope you feel better.
And I notice you're a dancer, do you know if I'll ever be able to fully do the splits again without it going out? I'm scared to try.