Lady Gaga has canceled the remainder of her Born This Way tour (20 U.S. dates) after being diagnosed with Synovitis and "a labral tear of the right hip".
An announcement on her website read:
Live Nation Global Touring has confirmed that the remainder of the Lady Gaga Born This Way Ball performances have been cancelled. After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip. She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict down time to recover. This unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour, so she can heal.
Refunds for the cancelled performances will be available at point of purchase starting Feb 14, 2013.
So what is synovitis and how bad is it? Writes Kent Sepkowitz in the Daily Beast:
Synovitis has many causes, but for such a young, healthy, hyper person like Lady Gaga, it's likely due to being so hyper….The group of aches and pains of which synovitis is a charter member is often referred to as in the "overuse” group of syndromes—those very things that happen because our bodies are built to jump around wildly maybe 50 times a year, so that when a person tries to jump around wildly 500 times a year, somethin's gotta give…
…Though painful and often really painful—more or less like someone took a heated knife and stabbed you in the joint—this sort of thing is not really dangerous. Miserable? You bet. But not worse. Oh sure, there are scary diseases that synovitis can be a symptom of, including lupus, which Lady Gaga disclosed in 2010 she may suffer from. Lupus is a protean disease that can cause inflammation in just about every part of the body, including the synovium. Tests for the disease, though, are problematic; no single result cinches the diagnosis. Furthermore, Lady Gaga referred to her condition as “borderline,” suggesting some symptoms—perhaps synovitis—and a blood test that fell in that large gray zone of maybe-positive results. Time will tell if she indeed is beginning to become ill from lupus, but without knowing more than what she revealed during her discussion with Larry King a few years ago, it is more likely she is having trouble walking and dancing because she walks and dances too damn much.
As for Gaga, she tweeted on Tuesday: "I've been hiding a show injury and chronic pain for sometime now,over the past month it has worsened. I've been praying it would heal…I hid it from my staff, I didn't want to disappoint my amazing fans. However after last nights performance I could not walk and still can't…To the fans in Chicago Detroit & Hamilton I hope you can forgive me, as it is nearly impossible for me to forgive myself. Im devasted & sad…It will hopefully heal as soon as possible, I hate this. I hate this so much. I love you and Im sorry."
