Hip & Pelvic Pain Treatment

Finding the source of pain requires the skills of a trained physiotherapist.

Depending on the cause, hip pathology may cause pain to be felt in many areas such as the front or inner thigh, knee, deep inside the hip joint or groin, the lateral leg or hip or buttock.

Some of the conditions that commonly cause hip pain are:

The trochanteric bursa is a sac on the outside part of the hip that serves to protect muscles and tendons as they cross the greater trochanter (a bony prominence on the femur). When this bursa gets inflamed, it can cause pain usually on the outside of the hip.

Hip pain gradually worsens over time, there is a progressive loss of range of motion in the hip, and some people complain of a grating sensation emanating from the hip.

Pain in the SI joint region however can be referred from many structures in the spine and pelvis, and the presence of pain in the SI joint region does not imply that it is necessarily the problem.

Tendinitis is inflammation or irritation of the tendons and is usually caused by repetitive stress from overuse. In the hip gluteal tendinopathy can cause lateral or posterior hip pain.

Symptoms can include pain in the groin area, or the inside or back of your thigh and buttock. It can be an achey or sharp pain that is aggravated by pushing off of the affected leg with running or skating. Depending on the severity of the injury, these muscles can be strained or torn, and can limit a player’s ability to return to their sport for weeks or months if not treated properly.

For example, piriformis syndrome can cause deep posterior hip pain, and/or compression of the sciatic nerve, resulting in leg pain and sciatica. Injuries, arthritis, prior back problems and lower extremity alignment can all have a role.

Fractures of the pelvis may cause hip pain but are less common and usually are due to major trauma such as a motor-vehicle collision or a fall down a flight of stairs.

Along with cushioning your hip joint, your labrum acts like a rubber seal to help hold the ball of the femur securely within your hip socket. Athletes and people who perform repetitive twisting movements are at higher risk of developing this problem. Pain is typically felt in the groin area and can be accompanied by the sensation of the joint ‘catching’ or ‘locking’.

This can be caused by a variety of factors including laxity of ligaments due to the hormone relaxin being released, the pressure of the baby on the back and pelvis, and the strain on the pelvis and surrounding muscles from childbirth. This can lead to pelvic pain, difficulty with physical activity, and incontinence. Click here to see how one of our pelvic floor therapists can help you.

They are named according to their location where the inguinal (groin) hernias are most common and femoral hernias that arise from a canal near the hip joint are another type that might also cause hip pain.

Peripheral nerves can become inflamed and cause hip pain. Meralgia paraesthetica occurs when the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve of the thigh becomes irritated. Pain or numbness is typically felt on the outside of the hip and thigh.

Inflammation of nerve roots from the low back may also present as hip pain and pain down the leg. The sciatic and femoral nerves may become inflamed due to spinal stenosis or osteoarthritis of the lumbar spine, ruptured or bulging discs, and spasms of the muscles of the low back.

Pelvic physiotherapy treatment tools such as education, self-care management, exercise therapy, and manual therapy are commonly used by a registered physiotherapist to treat hip and pelvic pain. Other treatments such as acupuncture, soft tissue release and massage therapy may also help.

A registered physiotherapist can conduct a skilled assessment and examination of the spine and initiate appropriate physiotherapy treatment.