Hip Pain

Hip flexor strains occur when your hip flexor muscles are stretched or torn. Hip flexor strains are ranked in severity from grade one to grade three. Grade one refers to mild stretching and microscopic tears. Grade three is the diagnosis when muscle fibers are completely torn or ruptured, and you can’t bear any weight on the joint. Here are some symptoms that are commonly experienced with hip flexor strains:

• Bruising
• Inflammation
• A visible muscle deformity
• Pain in the front of your hip or in your groin
• Pain when walking up stairs

Physical therapy is likely all you need to relieve pain and get better with a grade one or two hip flexor strain. Your Proliance Physical & Hand Therapy expert will carefully evaluate your pain and movement in collaboration with your doctor to accurately identify the root cause of your problem. Accurate diagnosis ensures that your therapist develops the best treatment plan possible to help you fully recover from a hip flexor strain and prevent it from occurring again.

The suffix “itis” means inflammation. Bursitis is inflammation of a bursa which is a fluid-filled sac between muscles or tissues to cushion and reduce friction. Each hip has a large bursa on the outside between the bony area (tronchanter) and the thick band of tissue stretching from your hip to your knee (iliotibial band). This is called the tronchanteric bursa. This bursa can become inflamed due to abnormal joint movements, poor posture, or weakness of the muscles around the hip. If you have trochanteric bursitis, you will likely feel pain after prolonged walking or standing. Your outer hip and thigh might also be very sensitive to touch or pressure.

The good news is most types of bursitis respond well to physical therapy and don’t require surgery. However, a careful diagnosis is essential to determine that bursitis is the problem and not something more severe. Since most bursitis is due to underlying abnormal mechanics of movement and weakness, your Proliance Physical & Hand Therapy expert, in collaboration with your doctor, will evaluate your movement to pinpoint the exact source of the trouble so they can develop the best treatment plan for your needs. Our goal is to get you back to the activities you love as quickly as possible, so your therapist will start with therapies to eliminate the pain and swelling then transition to exercises focused on strengthening the muscles around your hand and wrist to prevent recurrence.

Osteoarthritis is the type of arthritis that happens when bone rubs on bone. Osteoarthritis of the hip can be very painful because the hip joint is engaged in almost every type of movement. Wear and tear over the years can lead to degeneration of the cartilage that lines the hip joint. As the cartilage wears down the hip joint becomes stiffer. At the same time, as we age the muscles around the hip and buttocks tend to weaken and this increases the grinding and wearing in the hip joint. In advanced stages, bony spurs can form around the joint and even change the shape of the joint.

Physical therapy can be very helpful with most minor to moderate cases of hip osteoarthritis. The pain from osteoarthritis of the hip comes from inflammation in and around the joint. This joint irritation and inflammation are acerbated by tight muscles, tendons, and ligaments that limit movement of the hip joint. Your Proliance Physical & Hand Therapy expert, in collaboration with your doctor, will thoroughly evaluate the mechanics of your hip joint, your walking and gait, and the coordination of your hip muscles. By identifying the precise root causes of your discomfort your therapist can develop the best treatment plan to quickly relieve your pain, improve your range of motion, and get you walking comfortably again.

With advanced stages a partial or total hip replacement may be necessary. Physical therapy is very important after hip replacement surgery to ensure full recovery of strength and movement.

Piriformis Syndrome is related to sciatica. The piriformis muscle is deep in the buttocks and helps with rotating the hip. The sciatic nerve typically dives underneath the piriformis muscle as it makes it way down to the leg. With excessive sitting, loss of movement in the hips or trauma, the piriformis muscle can press down onto the sciatic nerve. In one out of five people the sciatic nerve goes through the piriformis muscle instead of underneath it. These people are especially susceptible to sciatic pain because any time the piriformis muscle tightens up (e.g. due to prolonged sitting) it can cause pressure and irritation to their sciatic nerve and trigger sciatic pain.

Sciatic pain travels into the buttocks and down the back of the thigh is called sciatica. Pain in your leg it doesn’t automatically mean you have sciatica piriformis syndrome, but if it happens with any regularity, it is important to figure out what’s going on before it gets worse. Sharp, stabbing pain with numbness or tingling is more typical of nerve irritation or compression occurring in the low back or leg. Achy pain that is spread out through the buttocks and the back of your thigh is more indicative of sciatica.

The good news is that physical therapy is one of the best things you can do to eliminate the pain of piriformis syndrome or sciatica. By analyzing your hip range of motion, muscle function, walking, and your posture your Proliance Physical & Hand Therapy expert, in collaboration with your doctor, will identify the best treatment plan for your specific needs. Typically, a combination of therapy and exercise will reduce pain quickly, restore your range of motion, and get you back to the activities you love to do. Our goal is to keep you free from pain so your therapist will also teach you easy-to-do exercises you can do at home to prevent recurrence.

The labra is the ring of cartilage just outside the socket of your hip joint. A hip labral tear occurs when you rip this ring of cartilage and is most common with athletes and individuals who perform repetitive twisting movements.

If you have a hip labral tear you can experience symptoms like:

• Hip pain
• Hip stiffness
• A clicking or locking sound in your hip

Your Proliance Physical & Hand Therapy expert, in collaboration with your doctor, will thoroughly evaluate your movement to pinpoint the exact source of the problem so they can develop the best treatment plan for your needs. If it’s a mild tear physical therapy is likely all you need. Your therapist will start with therapies to eliminate the pain and swelling, then transition to exercises focused on strengthening the muscles around the hip joint to prevent recurrence.

Hip surgery often requires patients to limit their movement during the initial healing period. This can cause significant loss in both range of motion and strength. Since walking and stability require the synchronized coordination of many different muscles, physical therapy is important to help restore range of motion, muscle strength, balance, proper posture and function.

If you are planning on a partial or total hip replacement your surgeon will likely recommend a pre-surgery therapy plan to strengthen the muscles around the hip area because physical therapy before surgery can significantly improve your recovery. Then after your surgery physical therapy typically starts while you are still in the hospital with basic movements and tasks like walking and getting up and down from a chair. Your Proliance Physical & Hand Therapy expert will work closely with your surgeon to develop a thorough rehabilitation program to restore normal walking, balance, hip coordination, and ensure you can return to your favorite activities without pain.