Causes, Treatments, and When to Seek Help

Hip pain is the general term for pain in or around the hip joint. It isn’t always felt in the hip itself but may instead be felt in the groin or thigh.

Read on to learn about the causes of hip pain and how it’s diagnosed and treated.

Certain injuries or conditions can cause hip pain.

Inflamed tendons

The most common cause of acute hip pain is inflamed tendons, or tendonitis. This is often due to too much exercise. This condition can be very painful, but it usually heals within a few days.

Arthritis

The most common cause of long-term hip pain is arthritis. Arthritis can cause pain, stiff and tender joints, and difficulty walking. There are various types of arthritis:

• Osteoarthritis (OA) can be the result of age-related wearing down of the cartilage that surrounds the joints.
• Trauma to a joint, like a fracture, may cause traumatic arthritis like osteoarthritis.
• Infectious arthritis is due to an infection in the joint causing the destruction of cartilage.
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is due to the body’s immune system launching an attack on the joints. This type of arthritis may eventually destroy joint cartilage and bones.

Osteoarthritis is much more common than rheumatoid arthritis.

Trochanteric bursitis

Another possible cause of hip pain is trochanteric bursitis. This condition occurs when the bursa, which is a liquid-filled sac near the hip joint, becomes inflamed.

A number of factors can cause trochanteric bursitis, including hip injury, overuse of the joints or posture problems.

Other conditions such as RA can also cause hip pain. This condition is much more common in women than in men.

Hip fractures

Hip fractures are common in older adults and in those who have osteoporosis, which is a weakening of the bones due to age or other factors.

Hip fractures cause very sudden, severe hip pain, and they require immediate medical attention. There are complications that can arise from a fractured hip, such as a blood clot in the leg.

A hip fracture usually requires surgery to be corrected. You’ll most likely need to have physical therapy to recover.

There are other, less common conditions that can cause hip pain. These include snapping hip syndrome and osteonecrosis, or avascular necrosis.

Snapping hip syndrome

Snapping hip syndrome, which most commonly occurs in dancers or athletes, is characterized by a snapping sound or feeling in the hip.

This snapping may occur when you’re walking or getting up out of a chair, for example. The condition is usually painless, but can cause pain in some cases.

Snapping hip with pain is usually a sign of cartilage tear or fragments of material in the hip.

Osteonecrosis

Osteonecrosis, or avascular necrosis, occurs when blood doesn’t reach the bones, either temporarily or permanently. This can lead to the loss of the supporting bone.

In this condition, the cartilage is normal initially but will eventually collapse as it progresses. Eventually, bones may break or crumple. It’s not always clear what causes osteonecrosis.

Joint injury, heavy use of steroid medications or alcohol, and cancer treatments may put you at greater risk for this condition. But in many cases, the cause is never determined.

Contact your doctor if you have hip pain that lasts longer than a few days. They can come up with a plan to manage pain and treat your condition.

However, you should contact your doctor immediately if the hip is bleeding or you can see exposed bone or muscle, a popping noise occurs, or you can’t bear weight.

Also, seek immediate help if your hip joint appears deformed or is swollen, or if you have severe pain.

Prompt medical attention is necessary for hip pain accompanied by any of the following:

• swelling
• tenderness
• soreness
• warmth
• redness

These may be signs of serious conditions, including septic arthritis, which is a joint infection. If it’s left untreated, septic arthritis can lead to deformed joints and osteoarthritis.

If you need help finding a primary care doctor, then check out our FindCare tool here.

For pain that could be related to a condition such as arthritis, your doctor will ask you a range of questions, including:

• Is the pain worse at a time of day?
• Does it affect your ability to walk?
• When did your symptoms first appear?

You may need to walk around to let your doctor observe the joint in motion. They’ll measure the motion in the normal and abnormal hip and compare the two.

To diagnose arthritis, your doctor will perform fluid and imaging tests. Fluid tests involve taking samples of blood, urine, and joint fluid for testing in a laboratory. Imaging tests may include:

• X-rays
• CT scans
• MRI scans
• ultrasounds

Imaging tests will provide your doctor with detailed views of your bones, cartilage, and other tissues.

The treatment of hip pain depends on the cause. For exercise-related pain, rest is usually enough to allow the hip to heal. This type of pain is typically gone within a few days.

If you have arthritis, your doctor will prescribe medications to relieve pain and stiffness.

Your doctor may refer you to a specialist who can offer further advice and a physical therapist who can show you how to do exercises to help keep the joint mobile.

For injuries, treatment typically involves bed rest and medications, such as naproxen (Aleve), to relieve swelling and pain.

Hip fractures, malformation of the hip, and some injuries may require surgical intervention to repair or replace the hip. In hip replacement surgery, a surgeon replaces the damaged hip joint with an artificial one.

Although hip replacement surgery will take some physical therapy to get used to the new joint, this is a common surgery that’s most often successful.

Alternative therapies

Some holistic therapies can provide relief from hip pain. Make sure you discuss treatment options with your doctor before undergoing any alternative treatment.

Possible holistic therapies include seeing a chiropractor for an adjustment or having acupuncture. This involves the temporary placement of very small needles into key body areas to promote healing.

After you know the cause of your hip pain and treat the pain correctly, you can successfully manage it.

For very minor injuries and exercise-related accidents, no treatment may be necessary and your hip may soon return to normal.

However, for more serious conditions, such as arthritis, fractures, and necrosis, the symptoms are likely to worsen until you receive treatment. Talk to your doctor so they can help you with a treatment plan.

Causes, Treatments, and When to Seek Help

Hip pain is the general term for pain in or around the hip joint. It isn’t always felt in the hip itself but may instead be felt in the groin or thigh.

Read on to learn about the causes of hip pain and how it’s diagnosed and treated.

Certain injuries or conditions can cause hip pain.

Inflamed tendons

The most common cause of acute hip pain is inflamed tendons, or tendonitis. This is often due to too much exercise. This condition can be very painful, but it usually heals within a few days.

Arthritis

The most common cause of long-term hip pain is arthritis. Arthritis can cause pain, stiff and tender joints, and difficulty walking. There are various types of arthritis:

• Osteoarthritis (OA) can be the result of age-related wearing down of the cartilage that surrounds the joints.
• Trauma to a joint, like a fracture, may cause traumatic arthritis like osteoarthritis.
• Infectious arthritis is due to an infection in the joint causing the destruction of cartilage.
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is due to the body’s immune system launching an attack on the joints. This type of arthritis may eventually destroy joint cartilage and bones.

Osteoarthritis is much more common than rheumatoid arthritis.

Trochanteric bursitis

Another possible cause of hip pain is trochanteric bursitis. This condition occurs when the bursa, which is a liquid-filled sac near the hip joint, becomes inflamed.

A number of factors can cause trochanteric bursitis, including hip injury, overuse of the joints or posture problems.

Other conditions such as RA can also cause hip pain. This condition is much more common in women than in men.

Hip fractures

Hip fractures are common in older adults and in those who have osteoporosis, which is a weakening of the bones due to age or other factors.

Hip fractures cause very sudden, severe hip pain, and they require immediate medical attention. There are complications that can arise from a fractured hip, such as a blood clot in the leg.

A hip fracture usually requires surgery to be corrected. You’ll most likely need to have physical therapy to recover.

There are other, less common conditions that can cause hip pain. These include snapping hip syndrome and osteonecrosis, or avascular necrosis.

Snapping hip syndrome

Snapping hip syndrome, which most commonly occurs in dancers or athletes, is characterized by a snapping sound or feeling in the hip.

This snapping may occur when you’re walking or getting up out of a chair, for example. The condition is usually painless, but can cause pain in some cases.

Snapping hip with pain is usually a sign of cartilage tear or fragments of material in the hip.

Osteonecrosis

Osteonecrosis, or avascular necrosis, occurs when blood doesn’t reach the bones, either temporarily or permanently. This can lead to the loss of the supporting bone.

In this condition, the cartilage is normal initially but will eventually collapse as it progresses. Eventually, bones may break or crumple. It’s not always clear what causes osteonecrosis.

Joint injury, heavy use of steroid medications or alcohol, and cancer treatments may put you at greater risk for this condition. But in many cases, the cause is never determined.

Contact your doctor if you have hip pain that lasts longer than a few days. They can come up with a plan to manage pain and treat your condition.

However, you should contact your doctor immediately if the hip is bleeding or you can see exposed bone or muscle, a popping noise occurs, or you can’t bear weight.

Also, seek immediate help if your hip joint appears deformed or is swollen, or if you have severe pain.

Prompt medical attention is necessary for hip pain accompanied by any of the following:

• swelling
• tenderness
• soreness
• warmth
• redness

These may be signs of serious conditions, including septic arthritis, which is a joint infection. If it’s left untreated, septic arthritis can lead to deformed joints and osteoarthritis.

If you need help finding a primary care doctor, then check out our FindCare tool here.

For pain that could be related to a condition such as arthritis, your doctor will ask you a range of questions, including:

• Is the pain worse at a time of day?
• Does it affect your ability to walk?
• When did your symptoms first appear?

You may need to walk around to let your doctor observe the joint in motion. They’ll measure the motion in the normal and abnormal hip and compare the two.

To diagnose arthritis, your doctor will perform fluid and imaging tests. Fluid tests involve taking samples of blood, urine, and joint fluid for testing in a laboratory. Imaging tests may include:

• X-rays
• CT scans
• MRI scans
• ultrasounds

Imaging tests will provide your doctor with detailed views of your bones, cartilage, and other tissues.

The treatment of hip pain depends on the cause. For exercise-related pain, rest is usually enough to allow the hip to heal. This type of pain is typically gone within a few days.

If you have arthritis, your doctor will prescribe medications to relieve pain and stiffness.

Your doctor may refer you to a specialist who can offer further advice and a physical therapist who can show you how to do exercises to help keep the joint mobile.

For injuries, treatment typically involves bed rest and medications, such as naproxen (Aleve), to relieve swelling and pain.

Hip fractures, malformation of the hip, and some injuries may require surgical intervention to repair or replace the hip. In hip replacement surgery, a surgeon replaces the damaged hip joint with an artificial one.

Although hip replacement surgery will take some physical therapy to get used to the new joint, this is a common surgery that’s most often successful.

Alternative therapies

Some holistic therapies can provide relief from hip pain. Make sure you discuss treatment options with your doctor before undergoing any alternative treatment.

Possible holistic therapies include seeing a chiropractor for an adjustment or having acupuncture. This involves the temporary placement of very small needles into key body areas to promote healing.

After you know the cause of your hip pain and treat the pain correctly, you can successfully manage it.

For very minor injuries and exercise-related accidents, no treatment may be necessary and your hip may soon return to normal.

However, for more serious conditions, such as arthritis, fractures, and necrosis, the symptoms are likely to worsen until you receive treatment. Talk to your doctor so they can help you with a treatment plan.

All about hip pinched pain

What needs to be done to diagnose and treat pain in paresthetic meralgia? To solve this problem, the first step for the patient is to make an appointment with a neurologist. After the initial examination, the doctor may prescribe additional tests:

• electromyography
• nerve conduction test
• MRI or CT

Paresthetic meralgia (Roth-Bernhardt disease, Roth syndrome) is a condition characterized by tingling, numbness, and burning pain on the outer thigh. These symptoms are caused by compression of the nerve that provides tactile sensation to the skin covering the thigh. Tight clothing, obesity or weight gain, and pregnancy are common causes of the disease. However, paresthetic meralgia can also be caused by local trauma or disease such as diabetes. In most cases, symptoms can be relieved with conservative measures, such as wearing looser clothing. In severe cases, treatment may include medication to relieve discomfort or, in rare cases, surgery.

Symptoms of pinched nerves in the thigh area

Paresthetic meralgia may cause the following symptoms in the outer thigh area:

• numbness
• burning pain
• increased sensitivity and pain even with light touch
• in some cases – a decrease in sensitivity.

Causes of Roth syndrome

The disease occurs when the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve is compressed and pinched. The lateral femoral cutaneous nerve only affects sensation and does not affect the ability to use leg muscles. In most patients, this nerve passes through the groin to the upper thigh without problems. But when the disease occurs, the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve enters a narrow area – often under the inguinal ligament, which runs along the groin from the abdomen to the upper thigh. Common causes of this tightness are any condition or condition that increases pressure on the groin, including:

• tight clothing such as belts, corsets and tight trousers
• obesity or weight gain
• wearing a heavy tool belt
• pregnancy
• accumulation of fluid in the abdomen causing increased pressure
• scar tissue near the inguinal ligament due to trauma or surgery

For example, nerve injury, which may be caused by diabetes or injury during surgery, can also cause paresthetic meralgia.

Risk factors

The following factors may increase the risk of paresthetic meralgia:

• Being overweight or obese may increase pressure on the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve
• pregnancy. The growing belly puts additional pressure on the groin through which the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve passes
• diabetes. Nerve injury associated with diabetes
• age. Patients between the ages of 30 and 60 are at higher risk.

How a doctor diagnoses a pinched nerve

In most cases, a neurologist can make a diagnosis based on the medical history and physical examination. The sensitivity of the affected hip is examined. Additional testing, including strength and reflex testing, may be done to rule out other causes of symptoms. To rule out other conditions, such as a nerve root problem or femoral neuropathy, the following procedures are prescribed:

visualization. Although no specific x-ray changes are found in meralgia, imaging of the hip and pelvis may be helpful in ruling out other causes. Computed tomography or MRI may be ordered if a tumor is suspected as the underlying cause of symptoms

electromyography. The test measures the electrical impulses produced in the muscles in order to diagnose muscle and nerve disorders. A thin needle electrode is inserted into the muscle to record electrical activity. Test results are normal for paresthetic meralgia, but this procedure may be required to rule out other disorders when the diagnosis is unclear

nerve conduction study. Electrodes are placed on the patient’s skin in order to stimulate the nerve with a gentle electrical impulse. An electrical impulse helps diagnose damaged nerves. A comparison of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve can be made on each side.

nerve block. Pain relief achieved by injecting anesthesia into the femoral nerve may confirm the presence of meralgia. The injection is performed under ultrasound guidance.

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Scientific sources:

1. Sargautite R. Psychological aspects of pain assessment in a rheumatological clinic. In: Topical Issues in the Study of the Mechanisms of Homeostasis. Tez. rep. scientific conf. Kaunas; 1983, pp. 214-215.
2. Kholin A.B. Magnetic resonance imaging in diseases of the central nervous system.// Hippocrates L999. Part III. S. 139-181.
3. Leparsky E.A., Kitaev V.V. New technique of KT and MRI examination of the spine – DynaWell ™// Radiology – Practice. 2004. No. 1. С. 37-38.
4. Novikov V.P. X-ray diagnostics of degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine after its injury. //Bulletin of radiology. 1982, No. 3, pp. 13-17.
5. Kinzersky A.Yu. Ultrasonography in the diagnosis of degenerative-dystrophic diseases of the spine // Abstract of the thesis. doc. medical sciences. Chelyabinsk. 1999.24 s.

Useful information

Arthritis of the spine

What should be done to diagnose and treat spinal arthritis? To solve this problem, the first step for the patient is to make an appointment with a neurologist, vertebrologist. After the initial examination, the doctor may prescribe additional studies:

MRI of the spine
CT scan of the spine

read more +

Back injury

What should be done to diagnose and treat back injuries? To solve this problem, the first step for the patient is to make an appointment with a neurologist, vertebrologist. After the initial examination, the doctor may prescribe additional studies:

MRI of the spine
CT scan of the spine

read more +

spine fracture

What should be done to diagnose and treat a spinal fracture? To solve this problem, the first step for the patient is to make an appointment with a traumatologist. After the initial examination, the doctor may prescribe additional studies:

Consultation with a surgeon
CT scan of the spine
MRI of the spine

read more +

Hip pain, causes and treatment

Hip pain occurs at any age for a variety of reasons. In young people, it signals acute injuries or wear and tear, especially in athletes and extreme sports enthusiasts. In adults after 45-60 years, discomfort is manifested in osteoarthritis, and in old age – with severe osteoporosis and injuries. Sometimes pain in the hip area can be caused by diseases and injuries in other parts of the body, such as the knees or the lumbar spine.

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Causes of pain in the hips

Doctors identify the following causes of pain in the hips:

• bursitis – inflammation of the synovial sac in acute or chronic form;
• Bechterew’s disease – a rheumatic disease that affects the spine and causes degenerative bone changes and pain that radiates to the hips and leg;
• arthrosis of the hip joint – a pathology in which the hip joint gradually wears out, causing pain and crunching;
• inflammation of the sciatic nerve;
• neuritis of the femoral nerve – occurs during pregnancy, in people with diabetes and in those who constantly wear tight clothes;
• femoral or inguinal hernia;
• inflammation of the femoral tendons – a disease often diagnosed in menopausal women and which is accompanied by pain and soft tissue injuries;
• piriformis syndrome – occurs with diseases of the spine, severe stress or heavy lifting, which leads to pain in the lumbar and gluteal region;
• fibromyalgia is an extra-articular pathology that causes muscle pain, cramps, insomnia and chronic fatigue;
• bacterial or viral infections of the hip joint;
• sickle cell anemia – chronic hemolytic anemia in which red blood cells donate their oxygen and take on an elongated crescent shape;
• Femoral head necrosis is a severe pathology accompanied by degenerative-dystrophic bone changes and structural disorders;
• benign or malignant tumors.

Avascular necrosis of the femoral neck may occur in people who take corticosteroids for a long time. Then the blood supply to the femoral neck is disrupted, it weakens, which causes pain.

Fibromyalgia causes muscle spasms, cramps, pain in various muscle groups and increased fatigue in the patient.

Article checked

Kuchenkov A.V.

Orthopedist • Traumatologist • Surgeon • Phlebologist • Sports doctor • experience 25 years

Publication date: March 24, 2021

Check date: January 15, 2023

Article content

Symptoms ation. If a fracture is suspected, he directs the patient for an x-ray of the hip joint. To detect inflammation in the joints or surrounding tissues, additional research methods will be required – ultrasound and computed tomography. Blood and urine tests are also needed. Sometimes pain in the femur requires invasive procedures such as arthroscopy and biopsy.

To diagnose the causes of pain in the hips, specialists from the CMRT clinic network use the following methods:

Where to see a doctor

See a traumatologist or surgeon after an injury. If the pain is not related to injury, make an appointment with an orthopedist.

Treating hip pain

Hip pain is usually treated with medications to relieve inflammation and pain. The medical course of treatment is supplemented with physiotherapeutic procedures – massage, physiotherapy exercises and warming up. To reduce pain, special joint fixators can be used. In severe cases, surgery will be required. During the operation, the damaged joint will be replaced.

If your hip and knee are hurting due to overexertion of the muscles, then it is useful to take a contrast shower, drink more clean water and massage regularly. After a hard day, it is recommended to lie down for at least 40 minutes, slightly raising your legs. If there are spider veins on the skin, it is necessary to lubricate the lower limbs with a cream or gel with a cooling effect.

If a patient is diagnosed with bursitis, treatment includes anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial drugs.