The Current Status of Hip Arthroscopy: The Central Compartment

In 1931, Michael Burman wrote that ‘visualisation of the hip joint is limited to the intracapsular part of the joint. It is manifestly impossible to insert a needle between the head of the femur and acetabulum’ [1]. This was following extensive cadaver experimentation using an early arthroscope design. He did not, however, attempt to distract the hip, and also states that ‘we have found it difficult to move the joint because of rigor mortis fixing the joint solidly’. Despite this statement, arthroscopic access to the central compartment of the hip, otherwise known as the part of the hip medial to the acetabular labrum and including the acetabulum and articular surface of the femoral head has been practiced since the late-1970s [2].