Spontaneous Hip Labrum Regrowth after Surgery

Here is an interesting new study that for those who have undergone arthroscopic surgery for a torn hip labrum. It seems after studying 24 patients who have undergone labrum debridement (trimming) that after two years most patients had some degree of regrowth, most to the size of their original labrums. Increasing age of the patients led to a poorer quality of reconstituted labrum. Maybe that is why my hip is feeling better all the time starting at about 1 1/2 years post surgery! It is also interesting because I often hear that there is such a limited blood supply to the labrum that it cannot repair itself on its own prior to surgery, but it seems that it can post surgery .Of course, the simple answer to that is that if there is a bony impingement that needs to be shaved down, the labrum will be constantly irritated, but what if there is no impingement? Might it heal on its own then. I have seen some runners on message boards who have learned to adjust to a torn labrum and still be able to run due to limiting some of their mileage or due to strengthening exercises. I have seen no doctor say that torn labrums can heal on their own without surgery, but maybe there is more to be learned. The study is called Spontaneous Hip Labrum Regrowth After Initial Surgical Débridement and was conducted at Stanford University by Geoffrey D. Abrams, Marc R. Safran MD, and Hassan Sadri MD.

Here are some cool and colorful photos of my labrum during arthroscopic hip surgery.
The red in the top left photo shows the tear.
The yellow yolky looking stuff is junk that was cleaned out.

Update:
This new book from the author of The Entrepreneurial Patient blog is a must read book for anyone with hip problems and is thinking about about arthroscopic hip surgery or has had arthroscopic hip surgery for a labral tear or FAI.