The hip joint is the biggest ball-and-socket joint in the entire body and it has the ability to withstand a large amount of wear and tear. When your body is moving the hip joint is allowing the entire body to move fluently front to back, side to side and in various ways involving your legs. Whenever you use the hip, like going for a walk or a run, there is cartilage between the joint and the socket that prevents friction and allows for a fluid motion.
With a lot of use and age, the hip joint can be worn out. The cartilage can become damaged or worn down, muscles and tendons tend to get overused and strained, and of course bones can get fractured from outside force. All of these examples are reasons of why there could be pain in one’s hip. It is not uncommon to experience chronic pain from different types of ailments in the hip area, especially for women where hip pain is more common.
Here are a few examples on what can be causing your hip pain:
Hip Fractures
If you have suffered an impact injury, or maybe have osteoporosis or decreased bone density, there might be reason to suspect that the pain from your hip could be a fracture in the bone itself. The pain should surface when you are using the leg in different motions like straightening, lifting or simply standing on your leg. Lying down or being completely still might relieve the pain for period of time.
Arthritis
Pain in the front of your thigh or groin can be evidence of arthritis, especially common in women in their 40s and up, particularly osteoarthritis which is caused by normal “wear-and-tear”.
Tendonitis
Between your bones and your muscles there are thick bands of almost muscle-like tissue called tendons. Tendons are of themselves very durable but can be subject of an inflammation or irritation, called Tendonitis. This is most commonly caused by repetitive stress and overuse.
Bursitis
Between different types of tissues in the body, such as bone and muscles for example, are small sacks of liquid called Bursae. Their purpose is to ease the frictions of these tissues rubbing together, however when they get inflamed they can cause a lot of pain instead.
Cancer
There is in fact a possibility that the pain originating from the hip could be a tumour that starts in the bone, or has spread to it. This is not common, but could be something that doctors look at in younger patients that are less likely to suffer from wear and tear but still experience pain in the bones and hip area.
Symptoms of hip pain.
Discomfort and pain can show itself in a lot of different ways, but usually hip issues originate or radiate to areas such as the thigh, groin, buttocks and around the hip joint. Sometimes pain can radiate from other areas of the body, for example from a hernia, where the pain or discomfort might be found in the hip area but is actually from somewhere else.
Pain relief
No matter what the cause of your pain, prescription free medication such as ibuprofen or anti-inflammatory drugs are usually good for temporary pain relief. Stretching and low impact exercises together with resistance training can not only improve the mobility in the joint, but also reduce pain substantially.
Whether your hip pain is a niggle, or if it’s so painful that you can’t put any weight on it, we can help to diagnose and assess the issue so that you can find out what’s causing your pain and what the best method of treatment is. We’re currently offering a free 30 minute assessment to new patients, so book your appointment by calling us on 0114 268 6677.
