The descriptive epidemiology of symptomatic femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) in young athletes: a single-centre study

The purpose of this study, published by a university hospital in Korea, was to determine the incidence of symptomatic femoroacetabular impingement in athlete patients.
From July 2003 to May 2013, 388 patients who underwent hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement were assessed on the basis of their demographic characteristics. Patient age and sex were analysed, together with the diagnosis and the type of sporting activity.
Among the 422 hips in 388 patients, 156 hips were related to sporting activities. Of these, 86, 43 and 27 were classified as cam, pincer and mixed type respectively. The types of sport were football, baseball and taekwondo, with hip numbers of 44, 36 and 35 respectively. The cases were also related to sporting activity by age, and were 63 hips for those in their twenties and 12 hips for adolescents, who also showed a greater association with femoroacetabular impingement. The types of sporting activity that showed a high association were 28 hips in football and 20 cases in martial arts such as taekwondo and judo for those in their twenties, and 9 hips in martial arts for adolescents.
The authors concluded that femoroacetabular impingement is often seen in young adults and is associated in a high proportion of cases with sporting activity. Most types of femoroacetabular impingement related to sporting activity were of the cam type, and football and martial arts were the commonest causes of it.
Source: “Hip pelvis”, March 2016