Your hip is a large ball-and-socket joint — the socket is located in the acetabulum in your hip bone where the tip of your femur, or femoral head, comes in. The ends of these bones are covered in cartilage to allow for easy movement and a synovial membrane houses the joint and provides lubrication. Your hip is stabilized by ligaments which hold the ball and socket in place. Pain can occur for many reasons including muscle strains, over-use injuries, cartilage tears, and/or joint degeneration due to wear and tear.
Hip pain can come from many conditions, chief among them:
- Arthritis (degenerative joint disease)
- Bursitis (trochanteric)
- Pediatric conditions including Toxic Synovitis
- Tendinitis
- Labrum tear
- Hip flexor problems
- Hamstring strain
- Quadriceps strain
- Iliotibial band syndrome (IT band)
- Hip fracture
The most common among these conditions are degenerative hip problems, namely osteoarthritis, and hip fractures due to osteoporosis.
Symptoms associated with hip pain include:
- Difficulty tying shoes
- Limping
- Difficulty sleeping on the hip
- Loss of motion
If you’re experiencing sudden or progressive hip pain, early intervention is critical to regaining pain-free function. When you come to one of our many 7 Springs Orthopedics locations, an orthopedic specialist reviews your symptoms and orders the appropriate imaging in order to get a clearer picture of the problem.
Armed with this information, your provider comes up with a plan to help mitigate the pain and restore function. Depending upon the cause of your pain, your provider may recommend:
- Medications
- RICE therapy — rest, ice, compression, and elevation
- Immobilization
- Corticosteroid injections
- Physical therapy
- Regenerative medicine
If your hip doesn’t respond to these nonsurgical methods, you may be a candidate for hip replacement surgery.
What Happens if I Need a Hip Replacement?
The providers make every effort to relieve your hip pain using nonsurgical methods, but there are times when surgery provides the best remedy, such as with severe degeneration due to arthritis. In these cases, one of our board-certified orthopedic surgeon partners may suggest a hip replacement.
To get back to feeling yourself again, call your nearest 7 Springs Orthopedics or request an appointment using our online scheduling tool.