Common Causes of Hip Pain

Do you find you get sudden hip pain and your leg feels like it is giving out when you stand up or walk?  Or maybe you notice your groin pain or hip pain when running or walking after awhile?  Maybe you get low back pain or knee pain at the same time?  Regardless, it’s preventing you from enjoying your regular physical activities and work.  Read more to find out what the common causes of hip pain are and what to do about it.

I have had many patients complain of “hip pain” or “groin pain” and a feeling like their legs are buckling or giving out when they walk or when they stand up from a sitting position.  When patients describe “hip pain” they can point to their low back, buttocks, side buttocks, front of the thigh or groin area.   

Pinched Nerve in Lower Back

The most common cause of hip pain and groin pain I see is due to a “pinched” nerve from the lower back.  The nerves from the lower back travels into your groin and down the front, side and back of your thighs and legs.  If your spine is out of alignment your nerves can be “pinched” and you can get pain in your hip and groin.  Furthermore, the muscles in your hip and thigh can become weak because the nerve signals to the muscles from your brain and spine get disrupted.  

Seeing a chiropractor to get your spine adjusted into proper alignment helps takes the “pressure” off your nerves and helps to restore nerve flow to your brain and muscles.  Your muscles should get stronger, helping you get back to your activities with full force.

Arthritis in the Hip

Like the lower back and knees, your hips absorb a lot of your weight when standing, walking, or running.  So your hip joints are prone to more wear and tear and arthritis (osteoarthritis).  You’re going to have less mobility when you have arthritis within your joints. 

An x-ray of the hip can help determine if you have arthritis.

If you have been diagnosed with arthritis in your hip here are some tips to help you manage and treat it:

• Get assessed by a chiropractor to see if your posture is out of alignment.  If your posture is out of alignment you won’t weight bear equally on your left and right sides.  More weight and stress on one of your hips will speed up the wear and tear process in your hip joint.
• An anti-inflammatory diet can help decrease the inflammation (swelling) within your hip joint which will decrease your pain.  As an added bonus, these diets often help people reach their ideal weight.  Being overweight or obese is a risk factor for developing arthritis in your hip joints and low back.  
• Taking a supplement called glucosamine sulphate can help decrease the swelling in your hip joint and rebuild your cartilage that is damaged.
• Start moving and exercising more if possible.  Exercise helps reduce hip pain and improve mobility. (1)  If weight bearing hurts too much, you may have to move into the pool, get on an exercise bike, or do floor exercises.
• If there is too much damage in your hip, sometimes the only option is a hip replacement.  You would have to consult an orthopaedic surgeon for this.

Tight Hip Muscles

Another common cause of hip, which may overlap with the other two common causes, is that muscles around the hip and pelvis area may be “tight”.  Sometimes because of overuse or an injury, the muscles and tissues around the muscle get tight.  This can restrict hip joint range of, cause the muscles to be weak, and can cause pain.  

There are many soft tissue techniques to help lessen up tight muscles.  See a chiropractor, physiotherapist, or massage therapist that can deal with this.

Inguinal Hernia

This can be a common cause of groin pain and should be ruled out as a potential cause of groin pain.  An inguinal hernia is where the intestinal tissues protrude through a weakness in the lower abdominal wall near the groin area.  

Some of the symptoms you might get with an inguinal hernia would be pain on coughing, bending over, or exercising.  You might see a bulge in the groin area.  You might get a heavy or full sensation in the groin area or pain itself. 

You would have to seek out a medical doctor to attend to this.

Summary

Hip pain and weakness while standing, walking, or running are common complaints.  The common causes of hip pain are a pinched nerve, arthritis, tight muscles, and inguinal hernias.

Once you know what the cause fo your hip pain you can treat it effectively.