Hip pain and how chiropractic can help

Being such a large joint, pain in the hip can be debilitating and frustrating, often causing difficulty with exercise, walking, or even just sitting on the floor playing with your grandkids. Hip pain can be felt in the groin, down the thigh, the side of the hip or even up into the lower back!

But what are some common causes of hip pain?

1)    Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome

This is a triad of symptoms caused by an excessively tight glute muscle (tendonitis), and inflammation of the two trochanteric bursae (bursitis) – the bursa acts like a cushion that protects the joint but can become overly inflamed through excessive use or strain. The pain with this syndrome is typically felt on the outside of the hip and swelling can be felt too.

2)    Degenerative Joint Disease

Or simply – wear and tear. The hip joint is a deep ball and socket joint that can be affected by overuse. When our joints feel excess pressure the bone will lay down more bone material in order to protect the joint itself, this extra bone narrows the joint space making it stiffer and harder to move. This is what wear and tear is and it often causes groin pain and particularly pain in the cold and damp.

3)    Femoroacetabular impingement

Like wear and tear, femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is caused by excess strain to the joint. The difference being that the bony grown is either on the ball joint or the socket joint itself (rather than all over), causing the hip join to ‘pinch’ at certain angles. FAI can also be felt in younger people, especially those who are sporty.

4)    Groin strain

One of the most common causes of hip pain is a strain of the muscles in the groin. The adductor muscles and hip flexors attach right into the hip joint and can pull the hip joint up and in and cause groin pain from that mechanism. The muscles can refer pain over the hip and even up into the lower back.

How can chiropractic help?

We always start with a consultation, that allows us to ask questions about your hip that will help us determine the likely cause of pain. Then we do some tests on your nerves, muscles, and joints to confirm the findings and give you a diagnosis. Sometimes we feel like further imaging may be necessary and we can organise this privately or through your GP. Your findings and diagnosis is discussed in your results session where we go over how chiropractic can help and what we would recommend. Your first treatment would always be in this session.

The treatment modalities we use can effectively treat the above-mentioned conditions, helping to alleviate pain and increase mobility. We use techniques such as adjustments, soft tissue work, dry needling, stretching, mobilisation and give you specific exercises to help strengthen your hip and help prevent the pain from coming back.