Surgical repair of the gluteal tendons: a report of 72 cases.

Lateral hip pain is a common problem in middle-aged women. This pain is usually attributed to trochanteric bursitis and treated as such. This study reports the results of investigation, the findings at surgery, the operative technique, the histopathologic findings, and the results of gluteal tendon repair in 72 patients with long-standing trochanteric pain and reports a classification of the operative findings. Six patients (7%) in the original study cohort of 89 patients were lost to follow-up, but of the remaining patients, 65 of 72, or 90%, were pain-free or had minimal pain (P < .00001). Surgical reconstruction of detached gluteal tendons causing chronic lateral hip pain addresses the problem directly and reliably relieves the symptoms of so-called "trochanteric bursitis."