Can a Labral Tear Heal on Its Own?

If your hip or shoulder is locking up and painful, it’s time to see a doctor. These are signs that you have a labral tear in the ball and socket joint. In many cases, that labral tear won’t heal on its own. 

As an expert in both hip pain and shoulder pain, Dr. Halina Snowball has a lot of experience treating labral tears. At Integrated Pain Solutions in Stamford, Connecticut, she can determine what treatment you need to heal this critical ring of tissue and get your joint back to working the way it should. 

Understanding the labrum

The ball and socket joints in your body allow you a wide range of motion. Because you have these joints in your hips and shoulders, you can move your arms and legs not just forward, but side to side. A lot of the human experience would be different if these joints didn’t function the way they do. 

To allow all of this motion, your hip and shoulder joints are complex networks of components that work together. Each joint has a labrum, a ring of tissue that goes around the joint to stabilize and cushion it.

When your labrum isn’t working the way it should, you run into pain, mobility problems, and more. With a labral tear, your joint might feel stiff or even locked up, and trying to move it may cause you serious discomfort. 

Your treatment options at that point depend on the location of your tear and its severity. 

Labral tears in your hip

Hip labral tears don’t heal on their own. If the tear is small and doesn’t cause you a lot of discomfort, you might be able to treat it with conservative options like:

• Injections
• Physical therapy
• Anti-inflammatory medication

If conservative treatments don’t help, you’ll need to get surgery to repair your labral tear. Fortunately, that procedure can be performed with minimally invasive surgical techniques. 

Labral tears in your shoulder

Shoulder labral tears are more likely to heal on their own. If you dislocated your shoulder and that caused a minor tear in the labrum, for example, having your doctor relocate your shoulder and following up with rest and physical therapy may be enough. Again, options like injections and anti-inflammatory medication can help. 

If your tear is serious, though, you’ll need a procedure to repair it. You can have your shoulder labral tear treated with minimally invasive surgery. 

Here at Integrated Pain Solutions, Dr. Snowball can help you determine if you have a labral tear and, if so, the severity of it. Then, she works with you to create a treatment plan that’s right for your specific hip or shoulder. 

To get started on the path toward lessened pain and increased mobility, call our office at 203-293-0549 or request an appointment online today.