Question: Hi... I have a labral tear in my right hip for which I've been getting periodic steroid injections. I had one in Dec, and the doc obviously hadn't done many. The hip has lost ROM since the shot and is painful doing stuff like going up and down stairs. X-rays are unremarkable. Doc's sent me for an MRI - it will be Friday before I get the 'official' report. But since I'm a geek, I looked at the disc myself. To me it appears that there is fluid in the joint? The attached pics are 3T MRI without contrast. Would you agree that this is fluid? And could a botched injection cause synovitis (as opposed to infection?)? Or is this likely more indicative of infection (bad...)? Or do you have any other ideas? I assume if it is fluid that I'll need to get a joint aspiration or something to see what is going on, but am trying to gather info up-front.

Wondering how you distinguish synovitis from infection? E.g. the comment 'it seems to be more synovitis'. (not that I'm complaining, mind you). Ty.