Top 5 Causes Of Chronic Hip Pain

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Hip pain is one of the most common ailments across modern society. You may associate it with the elderly, but perfectly healthy young people also complain about this problem. It’s important to treat your hip pain as many of the problems can be handled with relative ease. The sooner you treat it, the easier it is for you to recover and deal with the pain. Also, if you don’t treat it, then you will likely end up needing a hip replacement. 

How do you treat hip pain? It depends on what’s causing it. You need to find this out first, and here are the most common reasons for hip pain in modern times: 

Osteoarthritis

Arthritis is an incredibly common chronic health condition that can affect people of all ages. However, hip arthritis is usually reserved for the elderly. But, it can also happen to people who play a lot of sports and put increased pressure on the hip joint. 

Osteoarthritis is a specific type of arthritis that stems from a breakdown of cartilage in your hip joint. As a result, there’s not much stopping the bones rubbing together, which will cause inflammation and pain. 

You’ll know if this is the cause because the pain in your hip is dull and very persistent. Also, your hip will feel very stiff and can sometimes be red and swollen. Thankfully, you can treat this with rest, icing the joint, taking medication, and doing some exercises to keep the joints mobilized. 

Pregnancy

That’s right, pregnancy can be a leading cause of hip pain for many women. In fact, it’s fair to say that the chances of suffering from hip pain while pregnant are very high. This is largely down to a combination of three things. Firstly, your baby causes you to walk differently, which may put extra stress on your hips. Secondly, your hip joints and muscles naturally relax when you’re pregnant, which makes them more prone to muscle issues and pinching. Finally, many pregnant women sit down a lot, which causes extra stress on the muscles around the hip joint. 

Obviously, you’ll know if pregnancy caused your hip pain because you’ll be pregnant! There’s not a lot you can do to treat this problem other than icing the area and trying to do some stretches or strengthening exercises for the muscles around the hip. The good news is that the pain should subside when you’ve given birth, and your body returns to normal. 

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Hip Impingement

This is a common cause of hip pain amongst young people - particularly those who are quite athletic. Hip impingement is when the bones in the hip joint are positioned abnormally, and there’s not enough space for them to move around properly. This leads to a reduced range of motion and lots of stiffness or pinching pain in the hip. 

Young people get this because they either play lots of sports that put lots of pressure on the hip joint, or they sit for prolonged periods. Sitting down can cause a hip impingement as it locks he hips into a position for a long time. The good news is that this is one of the easiest things to treat. Most people will rid themselves of hip impingements by following a good physical therapy program. 

Muscle Issues

A lot of hip pain comes from muscle issues. If you tear a muscle of the hip - or experience a minor strain - then you’ll end up with hip pain until the muscle recovers. However, this doesn’t get classified as chronic hip pain, as it only lasts for a specific period. Instead, the main muscle issue relating to chronic hip pain is muscle tightness.

The muscles of the hip exist all around this joint. You’ve got muscles running down the front of your thigh, ones on the side of your hip, ones on the inside of your thighs, and even some behind the hip in your glutes. When a lot of these muscles get tight, they do things to your hips that cause pain. Lots of people have persistent pain in the front of their hips because of tight quadricep muscles, and many have side hip pain due to tightness in the muscles there. 

Usually, this pain is easily treated by stretching and relaxing the muscles. Here’s a short hip stretching routine that can help alleviate tight hips and get rid of your constant pain. 

Hip Tendonitis

Again, this is another common cause of hip pain in active individuals. So, it goes to show that you can be fit & healthy and still end up with bad hips! Tendonitis is a term that refers to injuries to your tendons. They can happen all over your body, and they come from repetitive actions. If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you put stress on the tendons to a point where they get strained and inflamed. 

With hip tendonitis, it’s usually the muscles at the front of your hip that suffer. This can come when you’re doing activities that require you to raise your knees all the time. An example of this includes cycling. Many cyclists get hip tendonitis, so be aware of that if you cycle to work every day. But, it can also happen if you sit all the time as you keep your hips in that raised position for incredibly long periods. It may not feel like it, but they’re working overtime! 

The best treatment for this problem is to rest your hips. Avoid doing any activities that aggravate the pain, and put a cold compress over it to soothe the pain. Resting gives the tendons a chance to recover and repair themselves, which can help you avoid pain in the long term. 

Do you suffer from persistent hip pain? If so, then join the millions of people across the country in the same boat as you! It’s not an exclusive club, but you can stop being a member of it if you know how to treat your pain. Find the cause, then the treatment will follow. Of course, always make sure you consult a medical professional before you attempt any treatments at home. 

*contributed post*