When is Your Hip Pain a Serious Issue?
Have you ever wondered if your hips are healthy or not? If they feel fine, it’s highly likely that they wouldn’t cross your mind. On the other hand, when experiencing pain in the hip joint, getting rid of it might be your only concern throughout the day. As pain specialists, we at Advanced Pain Care regularly see patients looking for lasting hip pain relief.
Men and women of all ages feel hip pain due to a variety of reasons like arthritis, pinched nerves, or fractures. Depending upon the cause, you will feel a stiffness in this area. Apart from that, it also hinders mobility in the joint, which consequently prevents you from engaging in everyday activities with the ease you desire.
If home remedies like ice packs and over-the-counter pain relievers fail to decrease the pain, it’s best to speak with a pain management specialist. At Advanced Pain Care, you will receive an effective hip pain evaluation and treatment. We follow a multimodal treatment approach to monitor the conditions of our patients and work to help them combat the pain and take charge of their lives.
Common Causes of Hip Pain
Your hips become sore due to many reasons. Here are some conditions that cause painful hips.
- Arthritis – The most prevalent causes of hip pain are rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. If you are an older adult constantly feeling pain in your hip joint, do not ignore the possibility of either of these conditions. These conditions are marked by gradually worsening pain. Over time, you might also experience a minimized range of motion in your hip joint.
- Tendinitis – Tendinitis means inflammation of tendons. The problem results from stress with overuse. With this condition, you will feel pain near your joint as well as stiffness. It limits the movement of your hip joint.
- Hip Fractures – Hip fractures can occur due to the weakening of bones because of factors like age. This issue causes intense and sudden hip pain. We strongly recommend you seek immediate medical help if you experience a hip fracture. It can also lead to complications like blood clots.
- Bursitis – Bursae or liquid sacs are present between tissues like tendons, muscles, and bones. They prevent the friction between rubbing different tissues. However, they can sometimes inflame because of repetitive motions. The trochanteric bursa is present at the outside point of the hip. It becomes inflamed due to injury or overuse. This condition causes you to experience pain in the outside part of your hip. Moving hips will become difficult as the pain worsens.
- Core muscle injury – A pain in the groin area is most often a core muscle injury. It means that your muscles or some kind of soft tissue in the lower part of the abdomen are strained. Core muscle injury or sports hernia is common in those who engage in sports that involve a lot of turning and twisting. If you aren’t conditioned for such activities, you may suffer from a core muscle injury.
- Pelvic floor issues – Hip pain can also sometimes arise from a point in your pelvis. Note that it will be difficult for you to know where the pain is coming from primarily because your pelvis consists of many systems. For women, if the pain is restricted to the groin and occurs during the menstrual cycle, it can point toward endometriosis. Some other causes of the pain include prostate cancer and gastroenteritis. The best course of action, in such a case, will be to visit the doctor.
- Hip impingement – If you consistently engage in high-intensity training like CrossFit, boxing, and other training regimens, you may be at increased risk of hip impingement. This condition arises when, due to intense activity, the hip bones fuse in an unusual shape. This in turn limits movement. This condition hurts immensely and is usually treated with physical therapy.
- Other trauma.
Acute & Temporary Hip Pain Treatment
Pain of any kind should be properly addressed. As you can see from above, hip pain can occur as a result of various factors. This pain manifests itself in many different ways.
We strongly recommend self-care treatments for those dealing with acute or temporary pain. However, we cannot stress how important a proper diagnosis of the cause of your pain is before you start self-care options to ensure your treatment plan is right for you.
After a diagnosis, you can use self-care treatment options like rest, exercises, and the usage of heat and cold to get effective hip pain relief.
Some key examples of such treatments include:
- Application of ice packs to the hip area in a gap of 20 minutes. It reduces inflammation and pain.
- Warm compresses to make the muscles surrounding the hip loose. It minimizes physical discomfort.
- Over-the-counter pain relievers like Ibuprofen help significantly minimize swelling and pain.
- Giving the hip joint adequate rest, meaning not overworking it.
Remember to assess the efficacy of these at-home treatments for a week. If you don’t find any improvement, you are better off seeing a doctor. Seek proper medical attention if the pain increases or your hip cannot bear any weight.
How to Know if Your Hip Pain is Serious?
Undoubtedly, hip pain is uncomfortable. So, how do you find if your discomfort is due to a minor injury that will heal in a few days or something severe? Well, only a professional diagnosis will give you the correct answer. Having said that, some symptoms point toward more serious problems. It’s worth mentioning here that a sudden onset of pain can indicate an even more severe problem.
At the same time, your symptoms do not need to be sudden to be classified as severe. We are talking about signs of infections like minor swelling or pain that require prompt treatment. If you experience the following symptoms, it certainly warrants medical attention.
- Hip bleeding
- Exposed muscle or bone
- Not being able to move the hip or leg
- A deformed joint
- Fever
- The affected leg isn’t able to take any load
- Popping noises from the hip joint
- An area that feels warm to touch
Choose the Right Orthopedic Surgeon for Your Hip Pain Treatment
Hip pain doesn’t arise for no reason. Many factors cause your hip joint to feel painful, like arthritis, injuries, muscle tears, strains, and bursitis. To find effective hip pain relief, it’s essential to consult specialists that are highly experienced in helping people dealing with it.
At Advanced Pain Care, our pain management specialists are trained to treat an array of pain conditions. Our experienced pain doctors specialize in the fields of integrated pain management, rheumatology, anesthesiology, and behavioral health to name a few. We identify the cause of your pain after a thorough assessment and design a hip pain treatment plan in line with your recovery goals. The treatment options we specify, like prescription drugs and non-prescription analgesics, aid in minimizing inflammation and controlling pain.
Our team of pain specialists are experts at performing non-surgical interventions like minimally invasive procedures that help patients reduce and manage hip joint pain. Our hip pain treatment plans are backed by our extensive clinical and research experience. Apart from medications and treatment, we also provide psychological support to every one of our patients. Hence, their outlook on their condition improves. This holistic approach to managing and treating pain has enabled us to deliver countless successful outcomes.
Advanced Pain Care is open in several locations like Austin (512-244-4272), Waco/Killeen (254-741-6641), and Amarillo (806-350-7918), with advanced surgical centers in Austin, Amarillo, and Round Rock. We accept insurance from all major in-network carriers. To make the process of accessing quality treatment easier and quicker, we provide downloadable patient forms that you can fill out online and bring to your next appointment. You can also access the patient portal on our website to get messages from our doctors and staff, check prescriptions, and pay bills online. The provision of booking an appointment online will allow you to access care conveniently.
It’s time to restore yourself to a pain-free hip, so you get back to your daily activities and enjoy life like before. Talk to one of our pain experts today.
