Services - Hip Pain - Florida

Hip Pain

Overview

The hip joint, the largest ball-and-socket joint of your body, can bear repeated motion and a fair amount of wear and tear. This joint fits together in a way that allows for fluid movement.

The hip joint is used for motions such as walking and running, and whenever it is used, a cushion of cartilage helps prevent frictional wear that could have taken place in the hip bones in the absence of the cartilage.

The hip joint is durable but not indestructible, and neither is it insured against pain. With age and use, the cartilage can wear down or become damaged. Bones in the hip of such people can break during a fall or any other injury, and as a result, you can feel hip pain.

Hip pain is the general term used for pain in and around the hip area. It isn’t always felt in the hip, but at times it can also be felt in the groin and thigh.

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F.A.Q.

How can hip pain affect your whole body?

If you suffer from hip pain, it can disturb your knee and leg functions. Hip problems obstruct you from doing everyday household chores like laundry, cleaning, gardening, and cooking, which becomes challenging as the pain increases.

How do you relieve hip pain?

You can apply some pain relievers, heat and cold treatment, compression, stretches, or take some rest to relieve the pain initially. But, shortly, you must consult a physical therapist to get the right therapy.

How do physiotherapists help reduce hip pain?

Physiotherapists are physical therapy specialists who apply therapeutic methods on the hip joint by gently moving it, exercising it to treat your specific health condition, and restoring strength and standard range of motion.

A Brief Anatomy of the Hip

The hip joint is a ball-and-socket joint. It’s named such because the top of the thigh bone that fits inside the hollow socket in the pelvis is shaped like a ball.

A covering of muscles holds the hip joint together and is held on to the bones by cord-like structures called tendons. The muscles and tendons form a capsule around the joint, and its movement is facilitated by the whole arrangement.

Inside the capsule are the synovium and the synovial fluid, which lubricates the joint and keeps the cartilage healthy. The cartilage sits between the joint and keeps the bones unharmed.

Common Causes Behind Hip Pain

Most of the time, overdoing exercises or any other activity stressing the hip joints is responsible for hip pain. The soft tissues, like tendons in the joints, get inflamed or strained and cause hip pain.

A hip joint problem can cause pain in the groin moving down the front of the leg in the knee. Sometimes knee pain is only a sign of a hip problem, called referred pain or radiated pain, and is fairly common.

Problems with your lower back can cause pain which is felt in your buttocks or on the outside of your hips.

Long-term hip pain can be a product of various conditions, including:

Arthritis: Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis are the main reasons behind hip pain, especially in older adults.

Hip Fractures: Bones become weak and brittle with age, and such elderly people can get a hip fracture easily if they fall and cause hip pain.

Bursitis: Bursae are sacs of fluid found between tissues such as bones, muscles, and tendons. An inflamed bursa can cause pain.

Tendinitis: Inflammation or irritation of tendons, strong cord-like structures that hold the bones and muscles together, can cause acute pain in the hip.

Diagnosing Hip Pain

If your hip pain doesn’t improve naturally after two weeks, you must visit a doctor to get it checked. A qualified physician will ask questions like how the pain started, which movements are causing or worsening the pain, if the pain is affecting your daily activities, and whether the pain is felt most at night.

Though physical examination will give the doctor a fair idea of what is causing the pain, he/she may prescribe tests like X-Rays, CT scans, or MRI scans to find out the cause if the condition is more serious.

Treatment of Hip Pain

If the hip pain condition is a result of more serious orthopedic conditions like arthritis or fracture, generally, you would need medical intervention and/or surgery to make things better for you. For other milder cases, therapies like physiotherapy, exercises, and taking steps to reduce the strain on the hips work well in reducing the pain.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapists are specialists who will work on your hip joint by gently moving it, exercising it for your specific condition, and restoring strength, agility, and its normal range of motion. They can show you some specific exercises or how to massage the joint to help reduce the pain symptoms and improve the way your hip works in the future.

Their approach will differ according to whether your pain is new or old and whether it is severe or mild. A trained physiotherapist might suggest a few things to improve your condition, including:

● Exercises to strengthen weak muscles and improve coordination and function.

● Show you how to improve posture

● Exercises to prevent and ease stiffness

● Exercises to increase the range of joint movement

● Taping your joint to reduce the strain on the tissues

● Massage and manipulation

They may even show you how to walk when your hip hurts or use a walking stick correctly.

Exercise

Your hip pain should go away only after a few days of treatment. But as soon as it is relieved, you must start exercising to prevent stiffness in the joint. Otherwise, your hip might start getting weaker and less flexible, thus reducing your ability and decreasing your range of motion.

However, you must consult your physiotherapist or medical practitioner regarding the types of exercises you should do or how often you should do them.

With hip pain, you might feel a bit of discomfort when performing the exercises, which will soon go away with rest. So, you must not stop exercising due to mild discomfort or pain. However, you should stop if you face joint pain that won’t go away quickly.

It’s also a good idea to improve general fitness and take up activities like walking regularly or swimming to strengthen other muscles in your body and reduce the strain on your hips.

Reduce the Strain

Reducing the strain on your hips is also quite important, as more strain will only worsen your hip pain situation.

● Avoid sitting in low chairs as they bend your hips more and cause more pain.

● Don’t carry heavy weights.

● Find a comfortable sitting position at work. You can use a footrest, back support, or other things to make sitting more comfortable.

● Maintain a healthy body weight. Also, lose weight if you are overweight.

● Avoid putting pressure on one leg.

Founder

Kristin Hallberg

Kristin Hallberg is a Florida board and Swedish health authority certiﬁed Physical Therapist. She earned her Physical Therapy license from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 2013. After moving to Florida she also earned her Florida board license in 2016. Kristin has a particular interest in orthopedic and sports medicine. She has 10 years experience of treating a variety of injuries and post surgery recovery for low back, knees, shoulders, neck, hips, and feet.

Previously, Kristin was a track and ﬁeld athlete and continued with coaching at Uppsala Track and Field High school when injuries stopped her fromcontinuing to pursuit her own journey. During this time she also sought out new experiences and pursuit taking skydiving license and open water diving certiﬁcate. She enjoys the outdoors and grew upskiing and hiking. Seeking new adventures has always been a part of her life and relates to the importancefor people to stay active with the lifestyle that makes them happy.