The Acetabular labrum is a gasket like cartilage structure (imagine the seal on your fridge door) that lines the outer rim of your hip socket. The labrum not only provides stability for the joint via its suction seal, but also dissipates the pressure of each of your steps over the hip joint; helping you preserve the health of your cartilage and avoiding the development of osteoarthritis. Tears of the labrum can be divided into two main categories including acute or sudden traumatic injury, and chronic conditions that can lead to the fraying and degeneration of the labrum over time. Because of tears, hip pain and dysfunction commonly follows (but not all labral tears cause pain). Pain can manifest in the groin (front of the hip), or radiate to the side of the hip and buttocks. Labral tears most commonly occur in association with other bony pathologies such as Femcoro- acetabular Impingement Syndrome (FAIs). The diagnosis of labral tears can be confirmed with an MRI. Click here to find out more on our specialised Rehabilitation Program. Image courtesy of Google Images.