Hip impingement (FAI) treatment in Edmonton

Groin pain in a young, active hip — and why the shape on the X-ray is only one third of the diagnosis.

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What is femoroacetabular impingement?

Femoroacetabular impingement syndrome describes a hip where the ball and socket make contact earlier than they should in deep positions, producing groin pain. The important word is syndrome: an international consensus defines it as requiring all three of symptoms, clinical signs and imaging findings. The bone shape on its own is not the condition — the same shapes are found in large numbers of athletes who have never had hip pain.

Hip Impingement (Fai) Assessment And Treatment At Vertex Physiotherapy

What it looks like

Pain is also felt in the side or buttock in some people, so the assessment separates it from the lateral hip and lumbar spine rather than assuming.

  • Deep groin pain, often shown by cupping the hip between thumb and forefinger — the C sign
  • Provoked by deep flexion: squatting, getting out of a low car seat, prolonged sitting
  • Common in sports with repeated deep hip positions — hockey, soccer, dance, lifting
  • Sometimes clicking, catching or a sense of the hip locking briefly
  • Stiffness turning the hip inward, particularly with the hip bent

The two shapes

Cam morphology is extra bone at the head-neck junction of the femur, which can shear against the socket rim in deep flexion. It develops during adolescence and is more common in males and in people who played high-load sport while growing.

Pincer morphology is extra coverage from the socket side. Many hips show a mix. Neither is a defect to be fixed on sight; both are common findings in hips that work perfectly well.

What treatment usually involves

Physiotherapy-led care starts with reducing the deep-flexion load that provokes it — squat depth, seat height, technique changes in sport — then builds hip and trunk strength and control so the hip handles the positions it has to.

A large randomised trial compared arthroscopic surgery with a physiotherapy-led program for this condition. Both groups improved over twelve months, with a modest difference in favour of surgery. Both are legitimate paths, and which one suits depends on symptoms, demands and how the hip responds to a proper rehabilitation trial.

That trial is the reason a structured rehabilitation program first, with a surgical opinion if it does not shift things, is a reasonable order to do this in.

Questions people ask

Not on the X-ray alone. The diagnosis requires symptoms and clinical signs as well. Cam morphology is found in a substantial share of athletes with no hip pain, so the finding is one input rather than the answer.

There is an association between cam morphology and later hip osteoarthritis, but most people with the shape do not go on to a hip replacement, and surgery has not been shown to prevent it. It is a reason to manage the hip well, not a prediction.

Usually not. Reducing depth to what the hip tolerates, while continuing to load it, is the approach that holds. Depth can often be rebuilt once strength and control improve.

Not on the basis of the shape alone. Many people have that shape and no pain. Surgery is considered when symptoms, examination and imaging all line up and a proper rehabilitation program has not helped. The physiotherapist works alongside your physician on that decision.

For now, limit the depth to the range that does not pinch and build strength there. Deep flexion under load is the main aggravator in hip impingement. Most people can return to a fuller range as control improves.

Yes. Hip impingement is common in hockey, soccer and dance, and the physiotherapists here work with recreational and competitive athletes. Bring details of your training schedule so the plan fits around it rather than replacing it.

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Vertex Physiotherapy is at 6958 76 Ave NW #205, Edmonton, AB T6B 2R2. Call (825) 525-2852 or book online.

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Written by Vertex Physiotherapy · Reviewed by Bipin Pokhrel, Provisional Physiotherapist · Last updated September 2026