How to Treat Hip Pain: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment Guide

In this article, you will find out everything you need to know about hip pain and the most effective ways to treat it, including an advanced treatment called Prolotherapy.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Anatomy of the Hip
• Why Your Hip Isn’t Getting Better with Other Treatments
• Common Hip Symptoms
• Types of Hip Conditions & How Prolotherapy Can Help
• Common Causes of Hip Injuries
• Prolotherapy
• Prolotherapy Research
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Contact ProHealth Clinic
• Author Bio
• References

Hips play a pivotal role in supporting many other structures in the body, primarily the pelvis and the lower back. So it is vitally important that they are functioning at their optimum to prevent injuries in these areas.

To understand how the treatment works, it is helpful to understand as much as possible about hip joints and the problems that can occur with them. This article contains the following information:

• Anatomy of the hip
• Why your hip isn’t getting better with other treatments
• Common hip symptoms
• Types of hip injuries and how prolotherapy injections can help
• Common causes of hip injuries
• Prolotherapy research

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Anatomy of the Hip

The hip is classed as a ball and socket joint, with the hip socket allowing for a wide range of movement and providing stability to the joint.
There are seventeen different muscles associated with the hip joint and it is held together by four ligaments. One ligament is inside the joint, and the other three attach around the outside. The hip joint is also supported by various soft tissues, including muscles, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. These muscles connect muscles from the pelvis and thigh to the hip, providing movement and stability.

The joint includes two fluid-filled sacs called ‘bursae.’ They help to reduce friction between some of the above structures. Thick bands of tissue, such as tendons and fascia, also contribute to hip stability and can sometimes become tight or inflamed.

Each surface in the joint is covered by a shock-absorbing tissue called ‘cartilage.’ The cartilage that coats the socket is called the ‘labrum.’ The upper end of the thigh bone (femur) fits into the hip socket, forming the main weight-bearing connection.

The hip bone is the main structure forming the joint and plays a crucial role in supporting body weight.

Female hips are set at a slightly different angle to mens hips.

Why Your Hip Isn’t Getting Better with Other Treatments?

Many therapies will focus solely on the hip joint itself when treating it, failing to realise that it has a strong relationship with other joints in the body. These other joints include the pelvis, lower back, knee and ankle. Problems in these neighbouring structures can prevent the hip from healing effectively if they aren’t treated at the same time.

For example, a patient comes in to the clinic suffering from hip arthritis or a labral tear. Upon examination of the joints that surround the hip, the ligaments in the knee were identified as being unstable. Unstable ligaments in the knee causes structures in the hip to overwork. If the knee ligaments aren’t treated at the same time as the hip, then you aren’t going to achieve optimum results.

Our treatment is able to strengthen and stabilise knee ligaments in a way that other treatments can’t.

Common Hip Symptoms

• Individuals may feel pain during certain activities or at rest, and the way they feel pain can vary depending on the underlying cause.
• Pain that can be sharp or dull in character. It is commonly located at the side or the front of the hip. Some individuals can describe it as a ‘catching’ type pain. Some people feel pain specifically on the outer (lateral) side of the hip, known as lateral hip pain.
• Instability – the joint can feel unstable performing daily activities such as walking and climbing stairs. Individuals report that the hip can ‘give way’ at times.
• Stiffness – most commonly effects rotational movements of the hip. For example, swinging the leg round to get out of a car.
• Weakness – individuals will report not being able to put weight on the leg of the affected hip. This can either be due to physical weakness in the supporting muscles around the hip, or from the pain preventing them from putting any weight on it. A painful hip can make it difficult to bear weight or walk normally.

Types of Hip Conditions & How Prolotherapy Injections Can Help

Osteoarthritis –

A condition that is diagnosed when the cartilage inside the joint has started to degenerate. When this happens, the joint becomes unstable and the surrounding muscles have to work harder. When assessing our patients, we find that the pain associated with arthritis is more coming from these over-worked muscles, not the bones rubbing against each other. The injections help to stimulate cartilage growth and strengthen the ligaments around the joint. This helps to take the work-load off the muscles and as a result, reduce much of the pain associated with hip osteoarthritis.

Other injuries include:

• Labral Tear – Labral tears are a common cause of hip pain, especially in athletes, and involve a tear of the cartilage ring (labrum) in the hip. They can cause symptoms like pain, clicking, or catching sensations.
• Ligament or tendon tears
• Snapping hip syndrome – a snapping sensation is felt when the hip is flexed and extended.
• Bursitis – this occurs when one of the bursa in the hip becomes inflamed. Pain from hip injuries such as bursitis can sometimes radiate to the upper thigh.
• Gluteal Tendinopathy – This condition involves degeneration of the gluteal tendons and often causes lateral hip pain.
• Stress Fracture – A stress fracture is a cause of hip pain due to repetitive stress or overuse, particularly in athletes.
• Rheumatoid Arthritis – An inflammatory condition that can affect the hip joint, causing pain, swelling, and stiffness.
• Psoriatic Arthritis – Another type of inflammatory arthritis that can cause hip pain and may be associated with skin symptoms such as itchy or scaly skin.
• Avascular Necrosis – A condition where loss of blood supply to the hip bone leads to bone death and potential joint collapse.
• Cam Lesion – A bony abnormality of the femoral head that can cause impingement and damage to the labrum, potentially leading to hip pain.

Common Causes of Hip Injuries

Trauma –

Falls and sporting accidents are the most common forms of trauma. They can cause structures in the hip to over-stretch and dislocate, leading to tears. Trauma can also result in a hip fracture, which may cause severe pain and inability to walk. Ligaments, tendons and the labrum are the most common structures to be effected by trauma. The regenerative effects of our injections help to repair the damaged fibres in these structures. Adequate blood flow and blood supply to the hip bone are essential for healing after trauma; loss of blood flow can lead to conditions like avascular necrosis.

Misalignment –

As mentioned earlier on in the article, the hips have a close relationship to other neighbouring structures such as the pelvis and the lower back. Even a mild misalignment in one of those structures can put strain on the hips over time. This additional strain can lead to conditions such as tendonitis, osteoarthritis, labrum tears and bursitis.

For an individual to experience long-lasting results with the injections, it is important that the misalignment is also treated during the same appointment. Each appointment at our clinics also includes gentle clinical massage and stretching techniques to ensure the body is in line.

Repetitive strain –

Certain occupational or sporting activities can involve repetitive movements which can slowly affect the health of the hip. Too much strain from repetitive activities can damage the hip’s supporting structures. The most common structures to be affected by repetitive strain are ligaments, tendons, muscles, cartilage, bursa and the labrum. Our treatment can help to repair and reduce inflammation in the effected structures.

Sedentary sitting postures –

The action of sitting tightens up the structures at the front of the hip. This can lead to tension and catching pain. If tight for too long, it can lead to osteoarthritis at the front section of the joint. The injections can help to enhance the health of the cartilage. Along with the injections, clinical massage and stretching techniques are performed to release the tension in the muscles.

Previous injuries –

Historic injuries further down in the lower limb (knee or ankle) can often cause slight imbalances in the mechanics of the hip. These imbalances aren’t necessarily noticed at the time of the old injury but long-term can cause structures in and around the hip to over-work and cause pain. Pain caused by old injuries may not be immediately apparent but can develop over time.

For example, an individual rolls over on their ankle and damages the ligaments on the outside of the foot. An injury like this can create a degree of instability after the ligaments have healed. That instability over-time can change the angle of the leg during a walking stride and eventually put repetitive strain through the knee or the hip.

This is why prolotherapy doctors will always assess both the hip and its connecting structures to see if they may be contributing to the problem. The aim of our treatment is to not only fix the problem, but also fix the underlying cause of the problem. This approach helps to create long-lasting results for people in pain.

Prolotherapy

In recent years, Prolotherapy has built its reputation within the medical community for its clinically proven ability to treat hip pain.^[1]
Published research has proven its pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory and regenerative benefits.
Prolotherapy involves injecting a natural regenerative solution with tiny needles. This has been shown to stimulate the production of collagen cells, the small cells needed to help with hip pain.
As prolotherapy is helping to treat the root cause of hip pain, it is deemed to be a permanent fix, preventing the symptoms from returning.

Prolotherapy Research

• Prolotherapy for hip pain: A systematic review
• Prolotherapy for hip labrum lesions: Rationale and study

Interested in how much prolotherapy costs? Head over to our prices page.

For more in-depth information about how prolotherapy and Prolozone therapy work, head over to our post titled ‘what is prolotherapy?’

Frequently Asked Questions

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Author Bio

References

1. Rabago D, Nourani B. Prolotherapy for hip pain: a descriptive review. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2017;19(6):34. Read study.
2. Hauser RA, et al. Regenerative Injection Therapy (Prolotherapy) for Hip Labrum Lesions: Rationale and Retrospective Study. J Prolotherapy. 2015;7:e947-e955. Read study.