The labrum is a layer of muscle that helps holds the ball-shaped hip joint in place.

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Think of the labrum as a ring of soft tissue that holds the ball of the femur, or thighbone, snugly in the hip joint's socket.

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After years of robust financial health, artificial knee- and hip-joint maker Stryker ( SYK) has suffered aches and pains the last couple years.

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There was also the prospect of long-term damage to the joint, plus a hip replacement, that would have affected his day-to-day life outside cricket.

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The polymers can be used in just about any form of product from hydrogels and solutions to coatings for things like hospital equipment and even replacement joints (infections from contaminated hip, knee, and other joint replacements have been on the rise recently).

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Last year, British experts at the world's biggest artificial joint registry said doctors should stop using metal-on-metal hip replacements after a study found that, after five years, about 6 percent of people who had used them needed surgery to fix or replace them.

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But at the moment, it still has that buzzy balance that is brewed up when a fast food joint is adjacent to a dollar store that is next door to a hip, new restaurant.

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