Clinical Examination and Diagnosis of Extra-Articular Hip and Groin Pain

Abstract

Intra-articular and extra-articular causes of hip and/or groin pain often coexist making diagnosis of a specific primary source of hip and/or groin pain difficult. In recent years clinical entities have been defined for the most common extra-articular causes of groin pain. Although extra-articular sources of groin pain may not be the primary cause of pain in many patients with suspected intra-articular hip joint pathology, there is emerging evidence to suggest that successful management of patients with intra-articular causes of hip and/or groin pain requires concomitant treatment of potential clinical groin entities. This chapter provides a clinical guide to systematically examine clinical groin entities including other potential causes of extra-articular hip and/or groin pain, such as sacroiliac pain and referred pain from the low back.