There are many reasons as to why you may be suffering with hip pain. Whether an acute or chronic injury this can often be severely painful. Lying on the side may illicit symptoms or a long period of inactivity can lead to pain. The many different causes of hip pain can be accurately diagnosed by a professional, and whilst you can try to help to yourself; best practice would be to get a professional to accurately diagnose your problem. Then a treatment action plan will truly benefit you in the long run.
What causes general hip pain?
General hip pain can come in all sizes and shapes. The type of hip problem that you are suffering with is dependent on a variety of factors. Your age is a key factor in the development of hip pain. The older you get the more at risk of arthritis you are, whilst, other structures become less able to react to potential forces placed on them. Tendon injuries and joint capsule injuries become more common and frequent with poor management following the initial injury.
- Tendinopathies
- Bursitis – Inflamed bursa
- Muscle weakness
- Muscle Strain
What can cause hip pain during a run?
Ultimately, you should seek professional assessment and advice to fully determine the root cause of your pain. This can then bring about the best corrective exercises to get you back running pain free again.
Hip pain from running can present in many ways but two of the most common injuries that affect runners are muscle strains through a sharp increase in the acute workload/overuse of a muscle or hip impingement. Hip impingement is commonly referred to as femeroacetabular impingement (FAI), and is caused through the interaction of the femoral head on the acetabulum.
What are the most common hip injuries in a sports person?
- Acute adductor strains
- Adductor tendinopathy
- Osteitis pubis
- Sportsman hernia
- FAI
These are the 5 most common pathologies that can illicit hip pain. Some of these will cause groin pain too, but the professional will be able to determine the root cause through accurate assessment. Hip injuries are most common in sports that involve high speed change of direction movements and kicking, such as; football and hockey. The best thing to do when you suspect and injury is to rest it, elevate and ice it. Check out a previous post of the immediate management following an acute injury here.
Exercises to prevent hip pain
My hip pain also gives me knee pain; what can I do to help this?
The muscle that sits on the mid-portion of your quadriceps is called the rectus femoris muscle. This sits across two joints, so if and when it gets tight it is going to affect the hip and also the knee. In several cases the pain sits at the front of the knee or just below the patella. This is simple to diagnose and fix, often, a deep tissue massage will get rid of your pain quickly. The video above shows exercises that are perfect to get rid of hip pain, with these certainly able to help get rid of this type of hip pain.