This page is educational and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Please ask a qualified health professional about symptoms, treatment decisions, or concerns about your own condition.
Emergency? If symptoms are severe, rapidly worsening, or you think it may be an emergency, call your local emergency number or go to the nearest emergency department.
Bones & Joints
Adult hip dysplasia (developmental dysplasia of the hip, DDH) is a condition where your hip socket is too shallow to properly cover the ball of your hip joint, often undiagnosed in childhood but causing groin pain, hip instability, and labral tears in young adults (typically 20s-40s), particularly active women. The shallow socket causes abnormal hip mechanics and early wear of cartilage. Young patients with mild-moderate dysplasia and minimal arthritis may benefit from joint-preserving surgery (periacetabular osteotomy, PAO) which reorients the socket to better cover the ball—delaying or preventing hip replacement for 10-20+ years in 70-80% of well-selected patients. Advanced dysplasia with established arthritis requires total hip replacement, often at younger age than typical (30s-50s), with special technical considerations.
What it is and why it happens
Adult hip dysplasia (developmental dysplasia of the hip, DDH) is a condition where your hip socket is too shallow to properly cover the ball of your hip joint, often undiagnosed in childhood but causing groin pain, hip instability, and labral tears in young adults (typically 20s-40s), particularly active women. The shallow socket causes abnormal hip mechanics and early wear of cartilage. Young patients with mild-moderate dysplasia and minimal arthritis may benefit from joint-preserving surgery (periacetabular osteotomy, PAO) which reorients the socket to better cover the ball—delaying or preventing hip replacement for 10-20+ years in 70-80% of well-selected patients. Advanced dysplasia with established arthritis requires total hip replacement, often at younger age than typical (30s-50s), with special technical considerations.