Hip Pain Causes, Symptoms and Natural Hip Pain Relief

Hip pain is a common problem with a variety of causes. The location of your hip pain can help indicate the underlying cause. For example, pain in your groin or inside of hip usually means there is a problem within the hip joint itself. Pain on the outside of your hip, upper thigh or outer buttock usually indicates there is a problem with soft tissues around your hip, such as muscles, ligaments, and tendons. It is also common to have hip pain that is caused by a condition in your lower back.

You rely on your hips for everything from walking to kicking to bending. Obviously, it’s hard to get around if essential body parts continually ache. If you have chronic hip pain, don’t suffer needlessly. Book an appointment with Dr. Winchell to diagnose your condition and develop a treatment plan. Here are five causes of hip pain Dr. Winchell treats routinely.

Causes of Hip Pain

Trauma

Pain is felt almost immediately after a fall, twist, stretch or hit. Even when there is no fracture, muscles, and ligaments surrounding the hip can be strained, sprained, or bruised.

Overuse Injury

Pain may be delayed by minutes or hours. Common among athletes due to repetitive motions. Inflamed muscles around the hip joint go into spasm or fluid accumulates in the joint. Overuse injuries may cause cartilage, labrum, or capsule damage.

Sciatica

Pinched nerves from misaligned vertebrae in the lower back may radiate pain down the sciatic nerve through the buttocks and to the front or side of the hip, and may continue down the leg. This condition results from any injury or pressure on the sciatic nerve, which can include bulging discs, spinal degeneration, herniated discs, or osteoarthritis.

It’s well known that chiropractic treatment can relieve sciatica symptoms. In one study from 2012, nearly two-thirds of chiropractic patients were able to avoid surgery thanks to dramatically improved symptoms from this non-invasive treatment method.

Bursitis

In many areas of the body, muscles and tendons must slide over and against one another during movement. In many areas of the body where muscles and tendons slide against one another, there is a small sac of lubricating fluid that helps then move smoothly. Usually these sacs of fluid, called bursae, reduce friction, but if they become swollen and irritated they can cause pain.

One common area where this occurs is in the bursa on the outside of the hip. This creates a condition known as trochanteric bursitis. This condition is common in older individuals, but may also occur in younger athletes and very active patients.

Arthritis

If arthritis narrows the hip joint, you may feel a click, catch, or reduced range of motion.

Osteoarthritis is an inflammatory joint disease and the most common cause of hip pain among older adults. It causes stiffness, swelling, joint degeneration, and progressive cartilage loss. Rheumatoid arthritis is another inflammatory disease that causes joint pain. Rather than being caused by wear and tear, rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks healthy tissues as if they were foreign invaders.

There’s no cure for arthritis, but chiropractic care can slow the disease and minimize your symptoms. In one study conducted in 2010, more than four out of five patients with hip arthritis noticed improved symptoms after nine or fewer chiropractic treatments.