Arthroscopic Treatment of Femoroacetabular Impingement

The etiology of degenerative joint disease of the hip remains unsolved. A precursor for some patients, especially younger ones, may be hip impingement. Repetitive microtrauma at maximal flexion can cause chronic pain from the abutment at the femoral head-neck junction caused by an abnormal offset. Chronic impingement from an aspherical head can lead to degenerative labral tears and acetabular chondral degeneration, which may contribute to the degenerative cascade. Arthroscopic treatment of hip impingement caused by an abnormal head-neck offset improves symptoms, restores hip morphology, and ultimately may halt the progression toward degenerative joint disease in certain patients. Early results show that if debridement of the impinging lesion and injured labrum is performed in the setting of normal femoral and acetabular articular surfaces, the results are promising.