Painful hip arthroplasty: definition

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been indicated as the surgical intervention with greatest improvement in pain and physical function. However some patients continue to experience hip pain after elective surgery. We investigate prognostic factors that negatively affect treatment effectiveness and the patient outcome. The "hip region" constitutes the groin, buttock, upper lateral thigh, greater trochanteric area, and the iliac crest. Pain originating from various sources and not directly linked to prosthesis may be perceived here and includes the lumbosacral spine, referred pain from abdominal organs and soft tissue sources such as trochanteric bursitis, tendinitis, hip abductor dysfunction, and inguinal hernia. An accurate assessment of the pain cause is extremely difficult to construct and a complete differential diagnosis is fundamental. We assess all the possible causes of hip pain after THA and we divide them depending on the presence or absence of radiographic signs.