The Many Causes of Hip Pain

Hip pain can be very uncomfortable.  It can affect your day to day activities, such as walking, sitting and even sleeping.  Hip pain is one of the most common people suffer from. There are lots of things that can cause hip pain, some that aren’t serious and can mend themselves, others that can be quite serious.  Hip pain doesn’t always require you to see a doctor. There are some things that you can do at home to help alleviate your hip pain. The most important thing to do is to keep track of how long your hip pain lasts and what you have done before you hip pain started.  This can help you decide if you need to see a doctor or not.  

There are lots of things that can lead to hip pain.  Some as trivial as overuse, some as serious as bone cancer.  

Osteoarthritis

One of the most common causes of hip pain in older people is osteoarthritis.  This is when the connective tissue a the hip joints wear down or inflammation of the joints.  Osteoarthritis will cause pain, inflammation, and bone spurs. The best thing to do for osteoarthritis is to stay active, but not overuse.  People who are more at risk for having osteoarthritis are people of older age, women, obesity, or bone deformities. 

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Another cause of hip pain can be rheumatoid arthritis.  Rheumatoid arthritis is a self immune disease. This is when your cells attack your own tissue.  In cases that have hip pain rheumatoid arthritis attacks the tissue connecting the hip joints. It will cause pain, inflammation, and even movement issues.  There is no treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, and no prevention. There are some things that you can do to help alleviate the symptoms so that you can live a normal life.  Make sure that you quit smoking, stay active, limit impact on the hip. Women are more susceptible to getting rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis can happen at any age, but if you smoke or have a family history of rheumatoid arthritis then you have more of a chance of getting it.

Bursitis

Bursitis is when the bursae or the sacks of fluid that cushion the tissue, get stressed and become inflamed and hurt.   This is usually caused by excessive training. It happens in people who perform high impact sports such as running, or jumping.  It usually affects younger trainers. It is important to make sure you warm up properly and cool down properly as well. Make sure you have appropriate shoes to wear and train on appropriate ground when running.  

Tendonitis

Tendonitis is another cause that usually affects trainers who perform high impact sports.  Tendonitis will occur when you have overused your hip tendons. It will usually cause pain and can sometimes lead to loss of movement if not rested and treated appropriately.  It can happen from improper warm up or cool down or putting on physical stress on your hips. Make sure that you properly warm up and cool down before any exercise. Making sure that you stretch, and rest your hips if they become sore.  If you end up with hip pain make sure you allow time between exercises to rest your hips so that you don’t do more damage to them. Tendonitis can weaken your tendons and if you don’t rest them appropriately you can do more damage to your tendons that could have lasting effect. 

Sciatica

Sciatica is when the sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in the spine, becomes pinched.  This can cause pain in many number of places but also can cause hip pain. To help prevent your sciatic nerve being pinched you can work on strengthening your core and having good posture.  Sciatica is common in people with herniated discs, bone spurs, are obese, who sit for prolonged periods of time or have diabetes. Applying a cold or hot compress can help alleviate the swelling around the sciatic nerve, this can also help with the pain the pinched nerve maybe causing. 

Avascular Necrosis

When you have poor irrigation of bone tissue it is avascular necrosis.  This can happen when you have a displaced or broken hip. It can also happen if you suffer from poor blood flow.  This happens to people who drink alcohol, smoke, or take steroids.  

Endometriosis, Bone Fractures, Hernias, Bone Cancer

Other conditions that can cause hip pain are endometriosis, or pelvic floor issues.  You can strengthen your pelvic floor exercises to help get rid of the hip pain it can cause.  Bone fractures can also cause hip pain. If you suffer from a hip fracture you will need to be seen by a doctor to know if you need surgery to help repair the damage.  Hernias can cause hip pain as well. Hernias though they aren’t necessarily causing actual pain radiating from the hip can cause pain in the generalized area of the hernia so it can make you feel as though you are experiencing hip pain.  Bone cancer is another cause of hip pain. If the cancer is in the hip bone then you would feel hip pain. 

At Home Care

All causes of hip pain don’t cause you to need to see a doctor.  Most treatments can be done at home. A good thing to do if you suffer from hip pain is to maintain your weight.  Make sure you exercise regularly, but make sure that you don’t over do it either. Finding the right balance between the right amount of exercise is key.  Stretching before you exercise and warming up and cooling down properly is important before exercise. Core strengthening exercises can be helpful to alleviate hip pain as well.  Having proper posture is another thing to try to do. As well as not sitting for too long, and making sure you don’t sit with your legs crossed too much. If you suffer from an exercise injury you can rest and ice your hip to help with swelling and pain.  

Diagnosis

If you pain lasts longer than a week you may want to reach out to your doctor for more diagnosis.  Other things to look for are if there is exposed bone, that usually means a really bad break has occurred meaning you will need surgery.  Another reason to see a doctor is if there is exposed muscle. If your hip joint is swollen and the swelling doesn’t go down with home remedies then you will need to go see a doctor.  Swelling, redness or tenderness all that do not go away within a few days can be signs of something worse going on that your doctor will need to inspect.  

Treatment

If you have symptoms that prolong for too long and aren’t going away your doctor will want to run a few tests.  They will first do a physical exam. After that your doctor may prescribe a x-ray, CT scan, or MRI. Sometimes your doctor will be able to use an ultrasound to see if there is damage, or blood flow.  Depending on what you have causing your hip pain will depend on how your doctor proceeds. If you just have an injury that is minor and doesn’t need surgery or other more severe treatments such as bone cancer than your doctor may give you a corticosteroid injection.  

Conclusion

Hip pain can be very unpleasant.  But it doesn’t always last for a long time.  Make sure to stay rested and train appropriately.  And seek your doctor if your hip pain becomes constant and doesn’t seem to go away.