Reasons Why Your Hips Hurt
& What You Can Do About It
Inside the Joint
- Each hip is a ball & socket joint.
- The ball is the top of your thighbone (femoral head).
- The socket (acetabulum) is in your pelvic bone.
- Smooth, slippery tissue called cartilage lets the ball & socket glide against each other when
you move. - A thin lining (synovium) tops the cartilage & makes a bit of synovial fluid, which further eases rubbing.
- Tendons, ligaments & muscles complete the joint.
Osteoarthritis
- It’s the 'wear & tear' type of arthritis that many people get in middle age.
- Cartilage on the ball end of the thighbone & in the hip socket slowly breaks down & causes grinding between bones.
- You’ll have stiffness & you might feel pain in your crotch & at the front of your thigh that
radiates to your knee & behind. - It’s often worse after a hard workout or when you don’t move for a while.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
- With Rheumatoid Arthritis your immune system attacks parts of your body, which can include the synovium.
- This normally thin lining starts to thicken & swell & to make chemicals that damage or destroy the cartilage that covers the bone.
- Doctors don’t know why this happens.
- When one hip is affected, the other often gets it too.
- The joint may hurt & swell,& you might notice heat & red skin around it.
Sciatica
- Too much sitting & too little exercise, among other things, might irritate & inflame the sciatic nerve, the largest in the human body.
- It runs from the bottom of your spine through your hips & down the back of your leg, which
is where you’ll feel the pain when it’s pinched. - It will radiate from the hip & might be mild, sharp, tingly, numb, or even like an electric shock.
Hip Fracture
- It's a break in the top part of your thigh bone.
- If you're young & healthy, it takes a lot of power, like a serious car wreck, to do it.
- But if you're over 65, expecially if you're a woman, or you have brittle bones
(osteoporosis) even a minor fall can cause it. - Your groin & the top, outer part of your thigh will likely hurt, expecially when you try to flex
the joint. - In a complete break, 1 leg may look shorter than the other.
Dislocation
- It happens when the ball on top your thighbone is knocked out of its pelvic socket.
- It usually takes a lot of force, as when you fall from a ladder or crash a car.
- All that power often causes other injuries like tissue tears, bone fractures & could even
damage nerves, cartilage & blood vessels. - Get to a hospital.
- It’s very painful & you won’t be able to move your leg much, if at all, until your doctor starts
to treat it.
Dysplasia
- Here, the socket of your hip isn’t deep enough for the ball to fit firmly inside.
- The looseness can vary from just a little jiggly, to fairly easy to push out (dislocate), to
complete dislocation. - Babies may be born with it, or they may get it in their first year.
- Female, firstborn & breech birth (feet-first) babies get it more often.
- You could also cause it if you wrap (swaddle) your baby’s legs too tightly.
Bursitis
- It’s when fluid-filled sacs, or ‘bursae,’that ease friction between muscle, tendons & bones
get irritated & swollen. - It can happen on the outside bony part of your hip (trochanteric bursitis), where it causes
sharp, intense pain that dulls & spreads out over time. - Less often, it happens on the inside (hip bursitis), where it causes pain in the groin.
- Either may worsen when you walk, squat, or climb stairs.
Labral Tear
- You can damage the cartilage at the bony edge of your hip socket that helps keep the
joint together. - You could injure it suddenly in a twisting fall or an accident, or you might simply wear it away with the same motion over time.
- You might feel clicking sensations & have pain in your groin or hip.
- You’re more likely to get it if you play ice hockey, soccer, football, or golf.
Hip Strain
- It’s when you over stretch or tear any of the muscles & tendons that help your hip
joint move. - It’s called a 'sprain' when it happens to a ligament.
- It could affect lots of muscles like your hip flexors, glutes, abductors, adductors, quadriceps
& hamstrings. - The area might swell, weaken & hurt, especially when you use it.
- Rest, ice & over-the-counter pain relievers are often enough to get you healthy again.
Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate
- It’s a good first step for any hip pain.
- Rest, but don’t stop all movements (that could make things worse), just the ones that hurt.
- Ice for 20 minutes at a time & use a cloth so you won’t damage your skin.
- Compress the painful area with an elastic bandage, but not too much.
- Loosen it up if you see skin turning blue.
- Elevate the injured part on a pillow or stool to stop blood from pooling there.
Medications
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, are often used to lessen pain &
inflammation for arthritis & other painful hip problems. - Most are pills, but creams & gels are also available.
- Your doctor can help you treat more serious pain & underlying conditions with corticosteroids, pain relievers & drugs to treat autoimmune & inflammatory diseases.
When to Go to the Doctor
- If home care doesn't curb your pain, make an appointment with your doctor.
- Ask someone to drive you to the emergency room if an injury caused your hip pain & your hip doesn’t look normal, or you can’t move your leg or put weight on it.
- You should also go to the ER if you have intense pain, sudden swelling, or any sign of
infection like fever, chills & red skin.
Diagnosis
- Your doctor will want to know about your symptoms & health history.
- Be sure you mention any falls or injuries you've had & any other joints that bother you.
- Your doctor will also examine your hip & might check to see how well it moves (range of motion).
- You may also get blood tests or imaging, like an X-ray or MRI.
Prevention
- Some of the same things that help treat hip pain can make it less likely for you to get it in
the first place. - For example, if you're overweight, losing even a few pounds may ease stress on the joint.
- Exercise (ask your doctor about the right amount) can also help.
- Take it easy.
- Start with a warmup & stretch, stop when something hurts, wear the right shoes & seek soft surfaces like hiking trails, not hard ones like asphalt & concrete.
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