Common Causes Of Hip Pain And How To Treat Them

Hip pain is common among adults in the United States and so are its causes. If you ignore your hip pain, not only could you be losing out on the enjoyment of the hobbies you love, but you could also be neglecting other areas of your health.

Nikhil Pandhi, DO, a northwest Indiana sports medicine doctor with Franciscan Physician Network, explains what can cause your hip pain and how it’s treated.

Key Takeaways: Hip Pain

• Common causes of hip pain can include general injuries or more specific conditions such as arthritis, dysplasia or lumbar spinal disease.
• Hip pain can be diagnosed through X-rays and motion and strength tests.
• Ignoring your hip pain can impact your overall health and quality of life due to a lack of comfortable exercise.
• Hip surgery is only considered by a provider after exhausting other options, including physical therapy, weight loss if needed or hip injections.

What Are The Common Causes Of Hip Pain?

If you’re experiencing hip pain, it may be due to one of these causes:

• General injuries or sprains
• Arthritis
• Bursitis
• Tendonitis
• Lumbar spinal disease
• Avascular necrosis (AVN)
• Dysplasia

Dr. Pandhi explained that injuries, such as muscle strains from everyday life, or more specific conditions like osteoarthritis, can cause hip pain by leading to painful motion or a lack of motion overall.

“It’s the most common cause as we age,” he said. “And sometimes that can be predicated upon the fact of injury, getting older, genetics or carrying more weight on your body. All of these can affect the hip joint.”

He also explained that some conditions that can cause hip pain may not involve the hip joint directly, such as bursitis, rheumatoid arthritis or labral tears.

“There are situations where some people are born with a dysplastic hip, where the hip joint has a different look to it on X-ray, a different mechanical alignment,” said Dr. Pandhi, who practices at Franciscan Physician Network Orthopedics & Podiatry Munster. “And usually, these are diagnosed at a very young age. As we get older, some people do just fine, but others will develop other hip issues, such as avascular necrosis or AVN for short. A condition in which the blood supply to the femur in the hip is compromised, leading to cartilage and bone degeneration.”

How Is Hip Pain Diagnosed?

“If somebody comes to see me for the first time for hip pain, I get a basic X-ray just to see what the anatomy of the hip looks like,” Dr. Pandhi said.

The X-ray can help doctors determine the severity of your condition, such as whether it's osteoarthritis or femoral acetabular impingement.

“After this, I examine the patient and put them through a range of motion, check their strength, and the neurovascular status of their hip,” Dr. Pandhi said.

What Are The Latest Advancements For Treating Hip Pain?

Like many areas of healthcare, the ways to treat hip pain are continuing to make advancements with new tools and treatments.

“The implants and all the instruments we use in surgery are now made of the latest materials that should last longer,” Dr. Pandhi said. “You can expect a hip replacement surgery to last you 25 or even 30 years. I specialize in robotic-assisted hip replacement surgery with a focus on the anterior approach.”

Dr. Pandhi explained that the anterior approach is a muscle-sparing approach in which the surgeon doesn’t cut the muscle or tendon but instead moves them out of the way to perform the surgery. With an anterior hip replacement, patients complete their rehab and recover faster while having less pain.

What Are Risks Of Not Treating Hip Pain?

When you have untreated hip pain and the less active you are, the less you're able to do exercise and stay healthy, Dr. Pandhi said.

“You start putting on weight, which also has a negative cycle when it comes to the hip joint, because you're making your hip worse by putting on weight,” he said. “I also think it’s a risk when you can't do the daily activities of life that make you happy and allow you to enjoy your life. It really has a detrimental toll on your health when you can't be active.”

He explained that he talks to patients about this subject all the time, starting by asking whether they’re at a point where they can't do the things they want to do.

Are There Downsides To Hip Surgery?

Surgeries do have risks. It’s essential to understand your options and talk with your surgeon about the best approach to a quick and safe recovery.

Is Hip Surgery Considered Last For Treating Hip Pain?

As there are other options for treating hip pain, surgery is considered after exhausting other options, including physical therapy, weight loss if needed or hip injections.

“It’s a last resort for me as an orthopedic surgeon,” Dr. Pandhi said. “If I think there's something else that can make you better, I will definitely suggest those options.”

Dr. Pandhi said that there are some specific methods for different injections on the hip joint, such as using your own cells to inject back into the hip. While there’s anecdotal evidence and studies showing it can help, it's still not always the right option for everybody.

“Insurance may not cover a lot of injection-related treatments,” he said. “Patients have different price points, and we want to make sure we’re giving them our best efforts and something reasonable.”

Don’t Wait With Chronic Hip Pain

If you’re experiencing chronic hip pain that is limiting your life, start a conversation with your doctor.

“When you can't do the daily activities of life that make you happy and allow you to enjoy your life, whether that's your retirement years, just doing your job, or playing with your kids, whatever it is, I think that's the risk,” Dr. Pandhi said. “That really has a overall detrimental toll on your health when you can't be active. You can tell they're miserable and they just realize they can't do the things they want to do, whether it's ride a bike, go swimming, whatever it may be. And that's really a huge part of why we do these procedures when they're needed.”