Hip arthritis occurs when the smooth lining cartilage of the joint becomes thinned and damaged. Eventually the cartilage can be lost altogether and force the hip joint to have bone-on-bone contact. These changes can be caused by a variety of conditions:
- Osteoarthritis (by far the most common)
- Inflammatory arthritides including rheumatoid, psoriasis-related, inflammatory bowel disease-related, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, SLE.
- Post trauma and hip fracture
- Avascular necrosis of hip (loss of blood supply to the bone)
- Following childhood hip condition (Dyplasia, Perthes and SUFE)
- Many other more rare causes