Hip Pain - Causes and Treatment

Prior to looking at hip pain in detail, I would like to point out that your hip pain may be coming from the hip itself, or from your lower back and pelvis. 50% of the cases I see of hip pain have a lower back component and 50% do not.

Symptoms of hip pain range from pain over the hip alone to pain radiating down the thigh to the knee and sometimes as far as the ankle.

Causes of hip pain range from arthritis in the hip joint to a nerve referring pain into your hip from the lower back. The way you walk may cause your hip pain.

The main causes I see in my clinic are:

1. 
   Arthritis: The most common cause of pain in my experience. Arthritis is an age-related condition in most cases of pain in the hip region. The severity of your arthritic-related pain will depend on the severity of the degeneration that you have in your hip. Early intervention and treatment of hip area pain arising from arthritis is very important.


2. 
   Capsulitis: This involves inflammation and tightness to the sac surrounding your hip joint. This tightness affects the range of movement in your hip and if the capsule is not stretched and released, it may result in chronic pain in the buttock. The cause of capsulitis may also be traumatically induced.


3. 
   Groin strain: When you strain a groin muscle the stability of the hip joint can be affected. This can result in excess strain being placed on the inner side of the hip joint causing pain. If the strain or tear of your groin muscle is deep you may present with hippain alone, without any groin pain.


4. 
   Lower back: The back has nerves which refer pain to the hip and if these nerves are impinged or damaged in any way you may feel pain around the hip. My clients often ask me why I am working on their back when the pain they feel is in their hip. The answer is that the root of the problem is in their back so I must treat the cause of their pain to facilitate a good recovery. They are often amazed when their pain disappears, often without me touching their hip at all!!

Now that we've covered the causes of Hip area Pain - what are some of the approaches to Pain Relief?

The answer lies in the correct diagnosis. The causes of pain in the hip area are many. Until you have found the underlying cause of your pain, long term resolution of your symptoms will not be found.

As with all injuries, once you have found the underlying cause of your pain the resolution is usually very simple. This type of pain can arise from the hip, the lower back or possible some organ diseases. As you can appreciate there is no point in treating your hip if the cause is the lower back. So seek the professional who will assess and advise you as what the correct management should be.

Once the diagnosis has been made and the source of the problem found, relief should in most cases be effective. I prefer not to think of pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs when I think of pain relief for the hip. I think of positioning, exercises, mobilisation therapy and strengthening. This is the long term solution to your hip pain.

You may require pain relief in medication in the early stages of your pain, but my advice is that you seek pain relief in the long term through exercises and positioning. 80% of my own hip pain patients respond well to exercises and manual therapy. Even those requiring hip replacements find relief from well-taught and administered exercises.

Ultimately the success of hip pain relief lies in the correct diagnosis and appropriate exercise management.