A lot of people experience hip pain, but they sometimes find it difficult to explain where exactly the pain is coming from. Experiencing pain around the hip and inside the abdomen can be seen as pain in the hip. This is also the same with problems with the spine or knees. When the pain you feel in one part of your body is caused by pain or injury in another part of your body, it is called “referred pain,” and lots of hip pain is referred.
Hip pain is more common as you age. As one grows older, the joint wears and tears. Women experience hip pain more than men, but there are no valid reasons as to why they do.
If you are experiencing hip pain and do not know what it is all about, this guide will help you get a better understanding of what hip pain is, what causes it, what you can do to relieve yourself of hip pain, and when to visit a doctor to seek professional help.
What Hip Pain Is Caused by.
Regardless of where you are experiencing the hip pain, it could be from the hip itself or somewhere close, hip pain could be caused by the following:
- Bone fracture caused by injury.
- Defect you were born with.
- A tightened nerve or a broken disk in your spine.
- Inflammation of the muscles, ligaments and tendons around areas of the hip area.
- Arthritis and the loss of cushioning cartilage, which results to bone rubbing on bone.
- Hernia or gynecological problems like endometriosis where the pain is “referred” to the hip.
- Disease, infection or cancer in the bone.
In order to find out what causes hip pain, you need to discover where exactly you are experiencing the pain.
Where Exactly Is the Pain?
Take notice of where you are experiencing the pain. Do you feel the pain inside or outside the hip joint? Or you experience the pain in the groin, thigh or buttocks? Does the pain remain in one place or does it spread down your leg or in your buttocks?
If you are experiencing the pain is inside your hip or groin, there is a likelihood that the problem is in the hip joint.
Experiencing pain outside of the hip, in the upper thigh or in the buttocks, is usually a sign of problems outside of the joint, in the muscles and soft issues.
What to Do About Your Hip Pain.
If your hip pain is not from a bone fracture or any serious condition, it can be improved with self-care. If your hip pain is not severe or happened suddenly, we recommend you try the following:
- Try to relax and keep the weight off your hip for some time. Try as much as possible to avoid direct pressure on your hip such as sitting, bending or lying on the side you experience the pain.
- Take some pain relievers like acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve).
- Apply cold packs to the hip for at least 15 minutes severally every day to lessen the swelling and pain.
- Do gentle exercise with low impact exercises like walking or swimming, stretching and resistance training for it will help relieve chronic hip pain from arthritis. (Here are some Exercises to Help You Stay Fit 24/7)
- After doing some exercises, take a warm bath to help stretch the muscles.
- Get rid of those extra pounds for it can help reduce hip pain and stress.
Visit a Doctor to Seek Professional Help.
If none of the self-care treatments fails to relieve you of the hip pain, we highly recommend you visit a doctor for professional help. It is important you see a doctor immediately if you fell on the ground or your hip suddenly starts to hurt and you find it difficult to move or stand on the leg. This could be a hip fracture. Pain that spreads down the leg might be as a result of a ruptured disk in the spine. Visit your doctor if you are experiencing excruciating pain in your hip.
In order to relieve you of the chronic hip pain, an orthopedic specialist may recommend the following:
- Minimally invasive arthroscopic hip surgery to eliminate or fix problems in the joint.
- For young active patients hip resurfacing surgery is most suitable.
- Hip revision surgery which is suitable for joint damage as a result of years of wear.
- Hip replacement surgery to repair disabling joint pain.
If you have any questions regarding joint pain, make sure visit a doctor. If the pain remains chronic, your health care professional may suggest pain management as an option. Always remember that professional care can help you return to healthy living.
If you seek more helpful ways to relieve yourself of hip pain, discover how to Unlock Your Hip Flexors.
