[Femoroacetabular impingement of the hip in sports - a review for sports physicians].

Recently the relevance of femoroacetabular impingement as a cause of hip and groin pain in sportsmen has been recognized. The entity often poses diagnostic and therapeutic problems to the sports physician. The patients go through an odyssey of different diagnostic and therapeutic modalities before the correct diagnosis is made and an adequate therapy is implemented. Not seldom, patients get even operated at another site which is thought to cause the problems. The present review analyzes the current literature concerning diagnostic standards and therapy of femoroacetabular impingement focussing on their relevance for sports medicine. It is aimed to help the sports physician to recognise this entity as a cause for groin and hip pain in the athlete and realise its importance for the short term performance of the athlete and its long term significance in terms of development of early hip osteoarthrosis.