24 Reasons for Radiating Lower Back or Hip Pain on One Side

Low-medium risk causes of radiating back or hip pain

Usually managed as an outpatient by your doctor with prescription medication.

5. A Pinched Nerve

A pinched nerve in the hip or back can cause radiating lower back and hip pain. If you wonder what does nerve pain feel like – it often involves severe pain and numbness that may be referred from other areas of the body. For example, a pinched nerve in the upper back can cause numbness in the fingers. But if you’re suffering with a pinched nerve—your main questions are probably ones of how to fix a pinched nerve, how long does a pinched nerve last, and how do you get pinched nerve relief? Often, pinched nerves are due to inflammation due to muscle tears, injuries, or pulled muscles. Sometimes, scar tissue from old injuries begins to accumulate and press on nerves. The best treatment for pinched nerves is often rest. But medications such as glucocorticoid injections and oral NSAIDs may help. For patients whose radicular pain has not improved with conservative treatment over six weeks and who want nonsurgical treatment, epidural injection of glucocorticoids may be reasonable.

6. Lumbosacral spinal stenosis

With lumbar stenosis nerves in the spinal cord and lower back become compressed. This type of injury can cause many of the symptoms of sciatica—including numbness and tingling in the legs and pain in the buttocks. Possible treatments include a sciatic nerve block, steroid injections, opioid pain medications, physical therapy, and rest. However, the use of epidural steroid injections is not supported by limited amount of available evidence.

7. Diabetic amyotrophy

The more common name for diabetic amyotrophy is diabetic neuropathy. It is a condition caused by advanced diabetes mellitus which affects the nerves in the legs, feet, hips, and buttocks. Symptoms include a wasting of the muscles of the legs as well as weakness of the leg muscles and severe, chronic pain in the buttocks, legs, and feet. Treatment includes monitoring blood glucose and keeping blood sugars well controlled as well as physical therapy and rest.

8. Lumbosacral plexopathy

Lumbosacral plexopathy, more commonly called diabetic lumbosacral plexopathy is a condition caused by advanced diabetes, in which patients begin suffering with debilitating pain in the hips, thighs, and legs. With lumbosacral plexopathy there is typically a wasting of the leg muscles asymmetrically. This condition can affect individuals who have both type I or II diabetes. Treatment includes controlling blood glucose levels, and chronic neuropathic pain management achieved through anticonvulsant medications (such as gabapentin for back pain) and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (such as duloxetine).

9. Mononeuropathies of the leg (eg, lesion of the femoral/sciatic/peroneal/tibal nerve)

Mononeuropathies can affect nerves in the legs, arms, or other parts of the body. Mononeuropathy means a single nerve or nerve group has been damaged, for example, by a lesion that has developed along a nerve or group of nerves. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a good example of a mononeuropathy, in this case, affecting the wrist area. With mononeuropathy symptoms may be sudden (acute) or may develop slowly (chronic). Some of the more common mononeuropathies are

• femoral neuropathy (affecting the nerves of the leg/femur)
• sciatic nerve dysfunction (affecting the sciatic nerve)
• peroneal neuropathy (a branch of the sciatic nerve which affects the toes and foot).
• tibial neuropathy (the tibial nerve, affecting the calf and foot).

Symptoms of the neuropathies above would include burning sensation in leg areas where these nerves are housed as well as lack of coordination of these leg muscles. Other symptoms include muscle wasting, pain, and twitching, cramps, and spasms in these nerves. Treatment focuses on isolating the underlying cause of the nerve disorder and addressing it using medications such as injected glucocorticoids and/or physical

10. Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that specifically affects the spine. Ankylosing spondylitis causes a severe inflammation of the spinal vertebra that can cause debilitating pain throughout the back region. This condition can cause stiffness and pain not only in the spine but also inflammation, pain and stiffness in the ribs, shoulders, ribcage, hands, and feet as well. Symptoms include a dull pain in the lower back and buttocks, stiffness and lack of mobility in the hips, back, and legs, loss of appetite, fever, and general malaise. Treatment includes physical therapy, medication, hot and cold therapy, and exercises that reinforce good posture practices.

11. Greater trochanteric bursitis

Trochanteric bursitis is a condition which causes pain in the hip region. Trochanteric bursitis is inflammation of the bursa at the outside area of the hip, which is called the greater trochanter region. When this bursa becomes irritated or inflamed, it causes severe pain in the hip area. Treatment may include stretches for hip pain, NSAIDs and anti-inflammatory medications, opiate pain medications, and physical therapy.

12. Greater trochanteric pain syndrome

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome describes pain that is felt along the outer hip area. Causes include sports injury, muscle tears, and injury due to motor vehicle accidents. The pain is caused by a combination of inflammation in two distinct areas: the bursa of the hip and pain in the buttock (gluteal muscles). Pain may also be caused by tendinitis of the hip abductor muscles. Symptoms of greater trochanteric pain syndrome include hip pain at night lying on side, dislocated hip symptoms, and hip muscle weakness. Hip pain relief can be sought through anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, and stretches for hip pain.

13. Ischiofemoral impingement

Ischiofemoral Impingement is a common but widely unrecognized cause of hip and back pain. It is caused by a narrowing of the space between the pelvic bone and femur bone, which pinches soft tissues between these boney protrusions. Symptoms of ischiofemoral impingement include front hip pain or feeling of stretched muscles in the hip or hip tendonitis, pain in the hip socket, hip pain at night lying on side, and a feeling as if there is a hip out of place. Treatment for ischiofemoral impingement includes rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen, and physical therapy aimed at strengthening the gluteal muscles so the patient can better control the pelvis.

14. Sacroiliac joint dysfunction

The sacroiliac joint connects the lower spine to the pelvis and any injury or strain to this area can cause a lot of back, hip, groin, and sciatic pain. Sacroiliac joint dysfunction (SJD) can cause not only radiating lower back pain but can also severe pain in the hip area including hip pain at night when sleeping and hip pain when sitting. Often the pain resembles that of a hip injury it is so severe. SJD can also cause severe pain in the groin area. Women may also notice pain running along the distribution of the sciatic nerve. Treatment for sacroiliac joint dysfunction includes rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, and sciatic nerve massage.

Sacroiliac Joint Pain, hip and buttock pain, SI joint fusion

Overview

Sacroiliac (SI) joint pain is felt in the low back and buttocks. The pain is caused by damage or injury to the joint between the spine and hip. Sacroiliac pain can mimic other conditions, such as a herniated disc or hip problem. Accurate diagnosis is important to determine the source of pain. Physical therapy, stretching exercises, pain medication, and joint injections are used first to manage the symptoms. Surgery to fuse the joint and stop painful motion may be recommended.

What is sacroiliac joint pain?

The SI joints are located between the iliac bones and the sacrum, connecting the spine to the hips. The two joints provide support and stability, and play a major role in absorbing impact when walking and lifting. From the back, the SI joints are located below the waist where two dimples are visible.

Figure 1. The sacroiliac joints connect the base of the spine (sacrum) to the hip bones (ilium).

Strong ligaments and muscles support the SI joints. There is a very small amount of motion in the joint for normal body flexibility. As we age our bones become arthritic and ligaments stiffen. When the cartilage wears down, the bones may rub together causing pain (Fig. 1). The SI joint is a synovial joint filled with fluid. This type of joint has free nerve endings that can cause chronic pain if the joint degenerates or does not move properly.

Sacroiliac joint pain ranges from mild to severe depending on the extent and cause of injury. Acute SI joint pain occurs suddenly and usually heals within several days to weeks. Chronic SI joint pain persists for more than three months; it may be felt all the time or worsen with certain activities.

Other terms for SI joint pain include: SI joint dysfunction, SI joint syndrome, SI joint strain and SI joint inflammation.

What are the symptoms?

The signs and symptoms of SI pain start in the lower back and buttock, and may radiate to the lower hip, groin or upper thigh. While the pain is usually one sided, it can occur on both sides. Patients may also experience numbness or tingling in the leg or a feeling of weakness in the leg.

Symptoms may worsen with sitting, standing, sleeping, walking or climbing stairs. Often the SI joint is painful sitting or sleeping on the affected side. Some people have difficulty riding in a car or standing, sitting or walking too long. Pain can be worse with transitional movements (going from sit to stand), standing on one leg or climbing stairs.

What are the causes?

The SI joint can become painful when the ligaments become too loose or too tight. This can occur as the result of a fall, work injury, car accident, pregnancy and childbirth, or hip/spine surgery (laminectomy, lumbar fusion).

Sacroiliac joint pain can occur when movement in the pelvis is not the same on both sides. Uneven movement may occur when one leg is longer or weaker than the other, or with arthritis in the hip or knee problems. Autoimmune diseases, such as axial spondyloarthritis, and biomechanical conditions, such as wearing a walking boot following foot/ankle surgery or non-supportive footwear, can lead to degenerative sacroiliitis.

How is a diagnosis made?

A medical exam will help determine whether the SI joint is the source of your pain. Evaluation includes a medical history and physical exam. Your physician will consider all the information you provided, including any history of injury, location of your pain, and problems standing or sleeping.

There are specific tests to determine whether the SI joint is the source of pain. You may be asked to stand or move in different positions and point to where you feel pain. Your doctor may manipulate your joints or feel for tenderness over your SI joint.

Imaging studies, such as X-ray, CT, or MRI, may be ordered to help in the diagnosis and to check for other spine and hip related problems.

A diagnostic SI joint injection may be performed to confirm the cause of pain. The SI joint is injected with a local anesthetic and corticosteroid medication. The injection is given using X-ray fluoroscopy to ensure accurate needle placement in the SI joint. Your pain level is evaluated before and 20-30 minutes after injection, and monitored over the next week. Sacroiliac joint involvement is confirmed if your pain level decreases by more than 75%. If your pain level does not change after the injection, it is unlikely that the SI joint is the cause of your low back pain.

What treatments are available?

Nonsurgical treatments: Physical therapy, chiropractic manipulation, and stretching exercises help many patients. Some patients may require oral anti-inflammatory medications or topical patches, creams, salves or mechanical bracing.

Figure 2. A needle is gently guided into the sacroiliac joint using x-ray fluoroscopy. An anesthetic and corticosteroid mixture (green) is injected into the inflamed joint.

Joint injections: Steroids can reduce the swelling and inflammation of the nerves. Joint injections are a minimally invasive procedure that involves an injection of a corticosteroid and an analgesic-numbing agent into the painful joint (Fig. 2). While the results tend to be temporary, if the injections are helpful they can be repeated up to three times a year.

Nerve ablations: Injections into joints or nerves are sometimes called “blocks.” Successful SI joint injections may indicate that you could benefit from radiofrequency ablation – a procedure that uses an electrical current to destroy the nerve fibers carrying pain signals in the joint.

Surgery: If nonsurgical treatments and joint injections do not provide pain relief, your physician may recommend minimally invasive SI joint fusion surgery. Through a small incision, the surgeon places titanium (metal) implants and bone graft material to stabilize the joint and promote bone growth. The surgery takes about an hour. The patient may go home the same day or following day. For several weeks after surgery, the patient cannot bear full weight on the operated side and must use crutches for support.

Figure 3. In a sacroiliac joint fusion, rod and/or screw devices are placed across the joint to stop painful motion.

Recovery and prevention

A positive attitude, regular activity, and a prompt return to work are all very important elements of recovery. If regular job duties cannot be performed initially, modified (light or restricted) duty may be prescribed for a limited time.

Prevention is key to avoiding recurrence:

• Proper lifting techniques
• Good posture during sitting, standing, moving, and sleeping
• Regular exercise with stretching /strengthening
• An ergonomic work area
• Good nutrition, healthy weight, lean body mass
• Stress management and relaxation techniques
• No smoking

Sources & links

If you have questions, contact Mayfield Brain & Spine at 800-325-7787 or 513-221-1100.

Links

Spine-health.com

Spineuniverse.com

updated > 5.2019
reviewed by > Marc Orlando, MD, William Tobler, MD, Mayfield Clinic, Cincinnati, Ohio

Mayfield Certified Health Info materials are written and developed by the Mayfield Clinic. This information is not intended to replace the medical advice of your health care provider.

Sharp, Stabbing Pain in Hip

The hip’s joints help swing your leg while you’re walking the dog. They also allow you to swing your leg out when getting out of the car and make many other common movements possible. However, even these normal daily activities can be a trial if your hip is painful. 

Unfortunately, people are all too likely to develop hip pain. Medical researchers report that up to 40% of athletes develop chronic hip pain, and up to 15% of adults over 60 also experience pain in this joint. There is one issue that commonly causes constant sharp, stabbing pain in the hip. Luckily, there are also several treatment options that can help you deal with this issue. 

This issue is likely causing the sharp, stabbing pain in your hip

A few issues can cause pain and dysfunction in your hip joints. Hip osteoarthritis and referred pain from the lower back can easily cause hips to be painful. However, people who are feeling sharp, stabbing pains in their hip are likely dealing with an issue called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). 

FAI occurs when the rim of cartilage around the socket of the hip joint, or labrum, is damaged or torn. Typically, this condition leads to symptoms such as: 

• Sharp, stabbing pain in the groin area or outer hip 
• Discomfort when sitting, particularly in low seats
• Catching, popping, snapping or clicking sensations in the hip

What can you do to reduce the sharp, stabbing pain in your hip?

Surgery is one of the most commonly used treatment options for FAI and the sharp, stabbing hip pain it causes. However, physical therapy is a less invasive option that can offer you several benefits. 

Some of the benefits FAI patients could get from physical therapy include: 

Armor Physical Therapy is ready to help treat your hip pain

Do you have sharp, stabbing pain in your hip? Our therapy specialists at Armor Physical Therapy are here to help you. We offer free screenings that can reveal the source of your hip pain. Our team also excels at building personalized therapy plans intended to reduce hip pain. You can even get therapy from home thanks to our virtual care and at-home therapy services, and none of our services require that you have a doctor’s referral. 

Contact us today for more information about how we can help with your hip pain or to schedule an initial appointment. 

Symptoms of Appendicitis | Patient

What are the symptoms of appendicitis?

The symptoms vary but the classic symptom is a dull pain around your belly button that then moves to become a much sharper severe pain in the right side of your lower tummy. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhoea and fever.

Over the next few hours the pain typically gets worse, and travels to the lower right-hand side of the abdomen. This is the area covering the normal position of the appendix.

Typically the pain becomes worse and worse over 6-24 hours. It may become severe. The pain tends to be sharper if you cough or make any jarring movements. The pain may ease a bit if you pull your knees up towards your chest, and may be worse if you push on your tummy or try to move around. The lower abdomen is usually tender, particularly in the lower right-hand side. You may find that pushing in on this area of your tummy gently with two fingers is very painful. Letting go – releasing the two fingers quickly after you push in – is often even more painful (this is called ‘rebound tenderness’).

Other symptoms that may occur include the following:

• Feeling sick (nausea) and being off food are typical. You may be sick (vomit).
• High temperature (fever) and generally feeling unwell.
• Constipation may occur, and sometimes diarrhoea.
• Frequent passing of urine may develop. This is thought to be due to the inflammation irritating the nearby ureter. The ureter is the tube between the kidney and bladder.

If your appendix bursts (perforates) then severe pain can spread to the entire abdomen. Any movement is painful and you will want to keep very still. Infected material from the appendix, together with contents of the bowel, can leak into your abdomen and track between the other organs. You become very ill as you develop serious infection of the membrane called the peritoneum, which lines the whole abdomen. This condition is called peritonitis.

If you develop peritonitis, coughing and moving the legs at the hips is painful. Your tummy will feel hard and tense and you won’t be able to push into it at all. You may be unable to pass wind or go to the toilet, and probably won’t want to.

Sometimes, when the appendix bursts, the infection is ‘walled off’ quickly by the membrane lining the stomach, which sticks to the appendix and traps the leaking fluid and pus. If this occurs you will still be in severe pain but the pain may remain quite focused in the lower right area of your abdomen, where a health professional may be able to feel the whole inflamed section of tissue as a firm, painful lump called an ‘appendix mass’.

What is non-typical appendicitis like?

Not all cases of appendicitis have typical symptoms.

• In some cases the pain may develop more slowly and run a more gradually smouldering course. This is particularly true when an appendix mass develops.
• The pain can also start in the lower right-hand side of the tummy (abdomen), rather than around the belly button.
• In some cases the pain may be relatively mild and may not actually become severe until the appendix perforates.
• The site of the pain may also not be typical if the appendix lies in an unusual place. Sometimes it is felt around the back passage, for example, or lower down in the groin.
• Appendicitis in pregnancy can begin quite vaguely further up the tummy or even under the ribs, as the appendix is pushed away from its usual location by the growing baby.
• Appendicitis is rare in small babies, but if it does occur it can often look more like an attack of gastroenteritis, with being sick (vomiting), irritability and diarrhoea.
• In some cases the appendix is not in the usual place. The pain of appendicitis can develop more slowly and in a different area such as in the hip joint or around the back passage. However, other symptoms, such as feeling sick (nausea) and high temperature (fever) are also seen.

How to Tell the Difference Between Hip and Lower Back Pain

Orthopedic treatment of hip and lower back pain is not black and white. As a practicing spine surgeon for the last fifteen years, I’ve found that determining the root issue of someone’s pain in these areas is often grey and filled with ambiguities. The anatomy of the hip and back is comprised of numerous parts that can be injured or wear out, and many problems that occur in this area can display the exact same symptoms or pathology.

To put it plainly, sometimes hip pain comes from the hip, but a lot of times hip pain comes from the back. Sometimes back pain comes from the back, but a lot of times back pain comes from the hip. Eighty to ninety percent of the population develops a debilitating back or hip pain at some point in their life, and this issue is the second most common reason for missed work behind the common cold.

Fortunately, our bodies typically take care of the issue on their own. When a flare up of symptoms occur in our hips or lower back, usually a combination of rest, activity modification, anti-inflammatories, and exercises calms the pain down.

Early and correct diagnosis is key

When seeing a physician for hip or lower back pain, imaging such as x-rays and MRIs are usually conducted at the sight of the symptoms. Yet, these studies can sometimes show abnormalities that are not actually the root cause of the pain. Let me share a quick example.

A fifty-year-old gentleman had severe pain in the outside of his hip. He saw a physician and had an x-ray of the hip area performed. It was determined that he had mild arthritis in the hip, but the arthritis should not have caused the extensive symptoms he was enduring.

So, he started physical therapy for a period of time and saw no improvement. He then received a cortisone shot in the hip, and that didn’t work either. His treatment plan moved on to a stem cell injection with platelet rich plasma in the hip, which also offered no improvement to his symptoms.

This man’s symptoms started in April and proceeded to get worse and worse to the point that he was in a wheelchair when he came to the OrthoVirginia office in August. I looked over his symptoms and decided to have a MRI performed on his lower back, even though he had absolutely zero pain coming from his lumbar spine.

It turned out that the L3 and L4 nerves in his back were being compressed, and the symptoms were appearing in his hip. A minimally invasive surgery was performed, and his pain was gone immediately.   

Again, hip and lower back orthopedics is not always straight forward. There is often more than one diagnosis, but an early and an exhaustive physical exam of all potential areas that could be the root cause of the problem is key in determining the correct diagnosis.

What are the symptoms of hip conditions?

In general, people suffering from hip pain from hip pathology have symptoms that appear in the front of the hip and the groin area. Sometimes the pain will radiate into the front of the thigh but very rarely goes past the knee.

After sitting for a period of time, patients suffering from hip pathology find it difficult to walk when they first get up. The pain is worse initially, but after a couple of limping steps, the hip lubrication kicks in, and the pain subsides.

What are the symptoms of lower back conditions?

Patients with debilitating back issues develop symptoms in the back of the hip near the buttocks. The pain goes down the back of the hamstring, past the knee, and to the outside or back of the calf.

What can we do if the diagnosis isn’t clear?

If you are still in pain after trying more conservative treatment options such as anti-inflammatories and physical therapy, and the x-ray or MRI imaging studies aren’t showing us what exactly is wrong, we can do a series of numbing injections to clear the fog. Essentially, we will numb up an area of the hip or lower back and see what happens.

If there is no response to the numbing injection in the hip area for example, then that is obviously not where the root cause of the pain is located. However, if your pain has dispersed after a numbing injection, then we have located the area of the root cause. These injections act as both a therapeutic and diagnostic tool we can use as physicians.

Another route we can take is an EMG or nerve conduction test. Needles can be put into your leg to see the conduction or activity of nerves. If some nerves are slow or are not signaling correctly, then we know that an angry nerve is the culprit of the symptoms.

Treatment options

Hip

• If you are a younger patient with symptoms in the front of the hip and in the groin area, a hip arthroscopy is usually the best surgical option.
• If you are an older patient with hip arthritis, a hip replacement is the best surgical option.

Spine

From a spine standpoint, it is an exciting time in our world. The surgeries we were doing fifteen years ago are completely antiquated. The surgical treatment options of today are much more minimally invasive, and the advancement in robotic technology has become a mainstay for spine surgeries.

However, not all surgeries are perfectly suited for every patient. When consulting with a physician about undergoing spine surgery, you want to make sure that the physician has all types of surgery from open procedures to minimally invasive procedures to robotic procedures in their toolbox.

• If you have a pinched nerve, a small, minimally invasive outpatient procedure is performed to remove the pressure from the nerve.
• If you have instability due to arthritis, or instability is created after the fixing of a pinched nerve, a fusion of the spine will be needed.

So, what are the highlights?

1. If pain is in the front of the hip/groin region and radiates down the thigh to the knee, it is most likely a hip issue.
   If pain is in the back of the hip/buttocks region and radiates down the hamstring to the calf, it is most likely a spine issue.
2. Early physical examination and consultation with an orthopedist is going to get you the right treatment.
3. X-rays and MRI’s can often find asymptomatic, normal degenerative issues, and relying on imaging along can be misleading.

Frequently asked questions

When lying down, what causes pain that shoots from the knee to the ankle?

It all depends on where the pain is shooting from. If the pain starts in the buttocks and shoots down the back of the leg past the knee to the ankle, that is most likely a pinched nerve in the back. Patients with a pinched nerve in the back often can’t lie down flat, and they will have use a recliner or wedged pillow to relieve some pain when laying down.

However, if the pain is just from the knee down, the issue could be from a knee pathology.

After a long-distance run, why is my lower back in pain?

As a long distance runner myself, I have experienced this issue firsthand. Running is an extremely beneficial exercise both mentally and physically, but long-distance running takes a toll on the body.

Long-distance running can actually be great for your back. The discs located in your spine have poor oxygen supply. By running, you get your heart rate up, and this increases circulation to those discs. However, after running a certain distance, your muscles become fatigued, and you begin to compensate by shifting your weight from your hip abductors to your back.

You will notice that a runner’s gait at the beginning of their run looks a little different compared to the end of their run. As their hip abductors become fatigued and weaken, their running gait becomes more labored, and the muscles in their spine start to carry more weight than they are used to.

Before running, you should always stretch your muscles so they are prepared for the workout. You can also do activation exercises before a long distance run such as short jogs and sprints. Lastly, hip abductor exercises with or without a resistance band can help strengthen your core and get you over that fatigue in those later miles of your run.

What are some reasons that back pain is significantly worse at night or in the morning?

Back pain is often perceived as one general term, but in my world back pain can mean a thousand different things. So your specific pathology will play a significant role in what time of day your pain is at its peak. I think the hormonal shifts that wakes us up in the morning and then makes us more tired by the end of the day contributes to inflammation.

If the pain is waking you up in the middle of the night, that is more of a red flag and should be assessed earlier.

What is your opinion on acupuncture if surgery is not an option?

Back pain often has low success rates when it comes to surgery compared to buttocks pain that has high success rates. So if surgery is not an option for you, I think the answer is yes try everything else.

Everything else can range from physical therapy to acupuncture to chiropractic care to stem cell therapy. I have had patients respond to every version of therapy, and I have had patients respond to none of these options.

I would absolutely recommend trying acupuncture to see how much relief that provides you.

What your hip pain may be telling you

You might feel it when you’re pivoting into your golf swing. Or maybe it happens when you do something as normal as turning from the stove to grab something on the counter.

For a lot of people who sit for long periods — at a desk, in a car, on an airplane — that’s when they feel it: A sharp, stabbing pain or dull ache in the groin or along the outside of the hip.

[UPDATE: Latest hip replacement surgery has patients in and out same day]

Over time, the pain becomes intense enough that people give up on pastimes they love, like golf and traveling. Everyday tasks become more and more difficult.

Your problem could be FAI: femoroacetabular impingement. FAI occurs when the labrum, a thick cartilage that acts like a bumper cushion around the ball and socket hip joint, tears away from the socket. It’s usually the result of deformities or an injury. The pain from this can be felt in the groin area and the outer hip.

Symptoms of FAI

Patients with FAI have similar symptoms and often share a common lifestyle. Symptoms include:

• Sharp stabbing or dull, insidious onset pain in groin or outer hip
• Discomfort while sitting, especially in low-seated vehicles like sedans, airplanes and desks
• Clicking, popping, snapping, catching, locking in the hip, or in the vicinity of the hip

Many FAI sufferers spend much of the day in a seated position, working on a computer. Or they may be “road warriors” who travel a great deal, either commuting to work or flying as part of their jobs. Some are athletes involved in hockey, football, baseball, gymnastics, ballet, dancing, yoga or pilates.

Time for a hip scope?

If you meet the strict indications and diagnosis for FAI, you might be a candidate for hip arthroscopy. A hip scope, as we call it, has gained popularity over the last 10 years, yet few orthopedic surgeons in the Chicago area perform it.

A hip scope is less invasive and very precise, usually an 8mm incision. Using long, arthroscopic cameras and minimally invasive instruments, we can heal native structures like cartilage.

Mistaking FAI for arthritis or hernia

As with all medical conditions, getting an accurate diagnosis is critical.  Unfortunately, FAI is commonly misdiagnosed as arthritis or a hernia, since the pain frequently occurs in the groin area.

If you’re misdiagnosed, your treatment will be ineffective. Your physician might focus on physical therapy to improve your range of motion, when what you actually need are strengthening exercises. When prescribed treatments that don’t alleviate the condition, some patients hear that they are simply going to have to live with the pain.

Diagnosing FAI requires a complete medical history, a very precise clinical exam to rule out other causes of pain, specific radiographs and sometimes a special kind of MRI. The specificity of this process is essential to an accurate diagnosis of FAI.

Road to recovery

It takes about two to three months to recover and rehab from a hip arthroscopy. We begin with partial weight bearing movement and using crutches immediately after the surgery, then advance to rehabilitation with a physical therapist within one week.

Patients typically regain functionality in their daily lives and improve their quality of life.

Sudden Sharp Pain in Hip Comes and Goes

Hip pain can be a very disruptive force in people’s lives. It can make romping with the grandkids harder. Walking to the mailbox might become a task you avoid. There are many issues that can cause sudden sharp pain in the hip that comes and goes, but the most likely cause is hip osteoarthritis. 

Is sudden sharp hip pain that comes and goes common for hip osteoarthritis patients?

Hip osteoarthritis affects each patient in unique ways, but it’s something that many of us might have to deal with as we get older. In fact, it’s estimated that about 19% of men and 29% of women will develop hip osteoarthritis in their lifetime. 

There are two types of pain that patients with this type of arthritis typically report. The first is a dull aching or throbbing sort of pain. The second is episodes of sudden sharp pain in the hip that come and go. Studies also show that hip osteoarthritis pain is more predictable than that of knee osteoarthritis. This means that there are certain steps you can take to reduce it. 

How can you have fewer episodes of sudden sharp hip pain that comes and goes?

Episodes of sudden sharp hip osteoarthritis pain are often triggered by specific factors. Some of the triggers for episodes of intense hip osteoarthritis pain include: 

• Sitting or lying down for long periods of time
• Spreading your legs
• Rotating your feet inward or outward
• Bending over
• Getting into or out of a car
• Prolonged periods of physical activity

Back in Motion can help you find other ways to reduce your hip pain

You don’t have to deal with sudden sharp hip osteoarthritis pain that comes and goes on your own. Our therapy specialists at Back in Motion Physical Therapy are ready and willing to help you. We offer free screenings that can confirm the cause of your pain. Our team also excels at building personalized therapy programs for patients dealing with hip osteoarthritis symptoms. 

Want to get therapy for your pain without leaving home? Back in Motion can help with that, too. We’re currently offering virtual care and at-home therapy services, and these are intended to help you get the therapy you need without leaving your home. Additionally, we don’t require a doctor’s referral to use any of our services, which means you won’t have to leave home to get one. 

Are you ready to start getting our help with your hip pain? Contact us today for more information about how we can help or to schedule a free screening.

90,000 Liver pain – causes, classification of pain and diagnosis

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Pain in the liver means complaints from discomfort in the right hypochondrium to intense (in some cases continuous) pain. An interesting fact: the liver itself cannot hurt – the anatomy does not allow it. There are no pain receptors on it, nature has not foreseen them.A painful symptom is given by its shell (capsule) or adjacent organs, which may signal a problem that has arisen. The best way to notice the “approaching catastrophe” in time is to undergo special diagnostics, which will be prescribed by a gastroenterologist.

Why is there pain? Even the smallest deviations in the organ change its size, which contributes to the stretching of the membrane on which there are receptors. Pathology of the pancreas, gallbladder, bile ducts can also be accompanied by pain in the right hypochondrium.

Pain and discomfort in this organ are of a different nature: aching or cutting pain, constant or short-term, it can intensify from excessive exertion, appear after taking even a small amount of fatty or spicy foods, in stressful situations. Sometimes a pain symptom in the right hypochondrium is accompanied by flatulence, stool disturbance, heartburn and stale breathing.

If the disease is in a period of exacerbation, the temperature may rise, severe weakness and headache may appear.

Reasons

Pain in the right hypochondrium can signal a number of pathologies. These can be problems with the pancreas, gallbladder, or bile ducts. With a significant increase in the liver, pain is caused by the membrane surrounding the organ.

In order not to bring the situation to a critical one, in case of any unusual and uncomfortable sensations in the right side, be sure to make an appointment with a doctor.

Our clinic employs real professionals in their field, who will quickly diagnose and prescribe the appropriate treatment.

To eliminate pain in the right hypochondrium, it is necessary to establish the exact cause of its occurrence. It can be called:

• gastritis in the period of exacerbation, pancreatitis (irradiation of pain)
• stones in the area of ​​the bile ducts or gallbladder, as well as in the inflammatory process of the gallbladder – cholecystitis
• inflammatory liver diseases (in particular, hepatitis)
  Hepatitis is of two types: infectious and toxic.Causes of occurrence: infection with viruses A, B and C. Main symptoms: dull nature of pain, yellowness of the skin or sclera of the eyes, weakness, nausea, less often itching.
• liver cirrhosis
  One of the most severe diseases. There is an overgrowth of connective tissues and the development of inflammatory processes, impaired blood circulation both in the organ itself and in neighboring ones. Causes of occurrence: more than 50% of cases are alcohol consumption. The main symptoms: in the initial stages, they are very similar to the manifestations of hepatitis.Diagnosis is by ultrasound or biopsy.
• irritable bowel syndrome
• malignant neoplasms (including secondary metastatic liver damage)
• closed injuries
  As a rule, they occur as a result of a blunt blow to the abdomen.

Pain can provoke:

• physical activity (even minor),
• eating fatty, spicy or fried foods (usually accompanied by nausea),
• bad habits (smoking, alcohol).

Treatment

To temporarily relieve liver pain, patients take pain relievers and antispasmodics on their own. Always remember that they can be used only after examination and recommendations of a specialist. Treatment is prescribed only after thorough diagnostic tests. Since many liver diseases have a similar course, it is necessary to make a correct diagnosis.

Do not take pain relievers or antispasmodics before visiting a doctor.They will mask important symptoms and make it difficult to diagnose when examined.

Do not under any circumstances engage in the selection of medicines on your own. Moreover, do not take drugs prescribed by your friends in similar situations. There is no guarantee that drugs that help them will not make you worse. Treatment is selected strictly individually.

To deal with this situation, see a doctor as soon as possible. Our center is equipped with modern research equipment.This helps specialists in the shortest possible time to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe an effective treatment.

Before visiting a doctor for pain relief (instead of taking medication), pay attention to your diet. You can reduce the load on the organ yourself.

The diet to eliminate liver pain should be sparing and low in fat.

• Recommended to use: black bread, low-fat dairy products, various cereals, vegetables and fruits, boiled meat and poultry (beef, chicken).
• must be completely excluded: fried, spicy smoked, and fatty foods, pastries, mushrooms, pork, duck, canned food, confectionery, coffee.

In some cases, the diet is much more effective than drug therapy.

The best diagnosis of liver pain – MRI of the liver and MRI of the gallbladder
To identify health problems in the early stages, doctors recommend that you periodically undergo a complete comprehensive examination of the body.

The content of this article has been reviewed and confirmed to medical standards by a top-quality gastroenterologist. categories Grankova Tatiana Mikhailovna.

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90,000 Pain relief after laparoscopic or robotic surgery

This information explains how to relieve pain after laparoscopic or robotic surgery.You can use them at the same time as or instead of taking pain medication.

You may experience different pain sensations after the operation. If you feel pain at your incisions (surgical incisions), this is normal. You may also feel a heaviness in your stomach and pain in various areas of your body, especially your shoulders. The reason for this is the gas that is pumped into your abdomen (belly) during surgery. The result is a space that allows the surgeon to see your organs and tissues freely.In this case, the gas exerts pressure on the inside of the abdominal cavity and can move to other areas.

Pain relief after surgery

You will receive pain medication after your surgery. If it does not relieve pain, tell your doctor or nurse. You can also do the following.

• Listen to music with headphones. If you have your favorite headphones, take them with you to the hospital. You will also be given a pair of headphones at the hospital.
• While you are in bed:
  • Flex and straighten your legs;
  • Bend your knees and place your feet on the bed; keeping your feet together, gently swing your knees from side to side.
• Try to start walking within 4 hours after surgery. If possible, try to get up and walk every 1–2 hours while you are awake. A branch employee will help you.
• Drink mint or ginger tea.
• If you have shoulder or abdominal pain, have your nurse apply a hot compress to the painful area.It cannot be applied directly to the skin.
• Set aside a “quiet time” (to rest in a ward without visitors).
• Meditate. The videos below will help you with this. You can watch them online or on TV in your room.
• Acupressure Acupressure is the application of finger pressure to specific points on the body. To learn more about acupressure, watch video Acupressure for headaches and other pain (www.mskcc.org/pe/acupressure_pain_headaches) online or on TV in your room.
• Ask your caregiver to help you with touch therapy (massage). To learn more about touch therapy, watch the video Touch Therapy for Caregivers
  (www.mskcc.org/videos/touch-therapy-caregivers) online or on TV in your room. Talk to your nurse before using touch therapy.You will be told if you should avoid using touch therapy on any part of your body.

You can do this during your hospital stay and after you are discharged (when you go home). If pain persists after using the above and taking pain medication, tell your doctor or nurse.

Deceiving symptoms

The body reacts to most disorders and failures with pain and other unpleasant sensations.The first reaction to them is unambiguous – the sore spot indicates the disease itself.

Commentary for the Domashny Ochag magazine was given by Evgeny Avetisov, general practitioner, medical director of the European Medical Center.

“The right shoulder hurts, it means that it blew or turned awkwardly.” Did you know that a diseased liver can give an alarm in this way? And pain in the liver area, quite possibly, is caused by renal colic. By the way, liver diseases are often manifested by the so-called chronic fatigue syndrome, and the liver itself, as an organ devoid of nerve endings, suffers “silently”.

Or, for example, cardiac arrhythmias, as well as depression, indigestion, insomnia, excessive sweating, hair loss, impaired nail growth, skin changes can be caused by dysfunction of the thyroid gland. This disease is generally a very difficult situation, because the thyroid gland affects all metabolic processes, it can touch any organ. It is with this that such a variety of manifestations in the form of a wide variety of symptoms is associated, which can mask or mimic many diseases.

We asked an expert about some of the symptoms that can mislead us (but not attentive doctors!).

Symptom: Chest pain

At first glance: heart problems.

In fact: very often heart problems cause pain not at all in the chest, but for example, in the left shoulder, in the left elbow, in the left hand, on the left side of the neck, etc. And real chest pains can be the result of intercostal neuralgia.Or lung disease – if a sharp chest pain is accompanied by shortness of breath, this may be a sign of pneumothorax, when a sudden lung rupture occurs for no apparent reason. A person can live without being aware of the peculiarities of the structure of their lungs, and suddenly – after active sports or a strong attack of coughing – there is a sharp pain in the chest, cough, shortness of breath – a feeling of lack of air. One lung stops functioning.

Acute chest pain can be caused by Tietze’s syndrome – an inflammation of the joints of the ribs with the sternum.Such malaise occurs quite often, it is not dangerous to health, although it is accompanied by painful sensations, in this case, the diagnosis is usually made easily.

Pain in the middle of the sternum sometimes indicates problems with the esophagus – inflammation, damage from a sharp bone, for example, a fish bone, as well as a hernia of the esophageal opening of the diaphragm.

Symptom: Low back pain

The most obvious: sciatica (“lumbago”).

Actually: May be a sign of kidney disease, such as pyelonephritis, gynecological disease in women, most often this pain is caused by problems with the spine or muscle spasms. There is even such a special diagnosis – pain in the lower back.

Symptom: Pain in the upper abdomen

The most obvious: stomach diseases (gastritis), especially if the pain is associated with food intake, the symptoms of duodenal ulcer manifest themselves in the same way.

In fact: such pain can be a sign of a heart attack, if the process develops in certain parts of the heart, the pain is “redirected” to the stomach area. It can also be a sign of gallbladder disease, rarely inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) or intestines. And also – a manifestation of radiculitis or lower lobe pneumonia. To make a diagnosis, the doctor needs to consider other additional manifestations.

Symptom: Shoulder pain

The most obvious: a disease of the shoulder itself – damage to the joint, ligaments due to overload or injury.

Actually: shoulder pain causes damage to the cervical spine. It can also be a sign of heart or lung disease. By the way, pains in the cervical spine sometimes imitate a heart attack – they can cause severe pain in the heart.

Changes in the cervical spine help to accurately diagnose MRI.

If we talk about the right shoulder, it is rare, but it happens – when the pain indicates a problem with the gallbladder, which radiates to the right shoulder joint.And pain in the left shoulder is a possible irradiation of pain in the stomach or lungs.

Symptom: Headache

The most obvious: increased blood pressure, vascular problems, migraine.

In fact: in 90% of cases, the cause-and-effect relationships are also broken here. The pressure rises with any discomfort – a headache, especially severe, especially if the person is anxious; it rises because the head hurts, and not vice versa! You need to know that a headache due to high blood pressure occurs only when the numbers are very high.At a pressure of 140/90, the headache may not be present.

Much more often, headache occurs due to problems with the upper spine, neuralgia of the occipital nerve is associated with its exit to the first vertebrae. Very often it gives headaches, especially in the back of the head, temples.

Sinus inflammation – sinusitis, frontal sinusitis – are also likely culprits of headache, which is localized in the forehead, eye sockets and cheekbones. Headache can be caused by a viral infectious disease, for example, herpes lesions of the nerves: occipital, trigeminal.

Vision problems also provoke headaches – people with myopia and astigmatism, especially pronounced, often have severe pain in the forehead and temples when they have to read a lot, work at the computer, due to visual overload.

Headache may be associated with anemia (lack of hemoglobin), but this is rare.

As for the increase in intracranial pressure, we make this diagnosis quite often: in order to deliver it, you actually need to insert a probe or do a spinal tap.

Symptom: Joint pain

Most obvious: joint inflammation (arthrosis).

In fact: on the one hand, indeed, pain is often caused by degeneration of the articular cartilage. As well as the inflammatory process that develops right in the joint.

But it can also be a sign of reactive changes when the infection develops elsewhere, for example, in the genitourinary organs or in the gastrointestinal tract. Due to the functioning of the immune system, this inflammation does not manifest itself in the intestines (there is no diarrhea or disturbances), and the pain is “transferred” to the joints.In this case, it is simply pointless to treat only the joints – it will only help to relieve the symptoms for a while, and then the process resumes.

Joint pain is sometimes caused by chlamydial infection, salmonella, shigella – different pathogens that “dig in” in different places, even without causing the classic symptoms of their disease – shigellosis or salmonellosis.

Psychotherapist commentary

Natalia Rivkina, Head of the Psychotherapeutic Clinic of the European Medical Center:

Stone on the heart

Feelings of physical discomfort that seem to a person to be caused by a physical illness may in fact be caused by neurotic conditions or mental stress.The likely cause is depression. One of the symptoms of moderate to severe depression is chest pain, a feeling of heaviness in the region of the heart. Often, these symptoms are confused with heart disease, manifestations of angina pectoris. How can this connection be explained? When depression occurs, such states as mental anguish, and it gives this feeling, which in everyday life we ​​call “a stone on the heart.