Amitabh Gupta, Brad Fernihough, Glen Bailey, Petra Bombeck
Discussion from Slide Eight
One of the goals of this dissection was to evaluate the likely source of snapping hip syndrome, which is quite common in dancers. It is usually seen in rapid or repetitive movements involving external rotation of the hip, which the literature suggests may have the iliopsoas tendon snapping over the iliopectineal eminence or the femoral head.
From this dissection, it was thought the possibility of the tendon passing over the eminence was low due to the extensive fascial attachments to the pelvic brim and adjacent to the ASIS, which would hold the structure in place, not allowing it the freedom to travel back and forth over this bony prominence. There were less rigid fascial attachments around the anterior hip joint capsule.
As well, a fat pad was seen anterior to the hip joint, directly under the tendon, which we thought might represent an adaptation to reduce the friction between the two structures. We therefore theorised that this was probably the more likely culprit in the source of snapping hip syndrome, as the iliopsoas tendon contracted with the hip externally rotated, the taut tendon would ‘ snap’ over the hip joint, causing a discernible sound, and if repeated, lead to friction and possibly inflammation and pain.
