Walking & Hip Pain

Hip pain is a common complaint amongst patients. Hip pain can be caused by a wide variety of issues, and each patient can experience different symptoms. The location and severity of your hip pain can help doctors determine what may be causing the pain and how to best go about treating your pain. If you are experiencing hip pain while walking, you may feel like accomplishing your day-to-day tasks is becoming more and more difficult. Here are some causes of hip pain and treatment options for pain that makes walking difficult.

What Causes Hip Pain?

Based on the location of your pain, doctors will be able to narrow down a potential cause for your pain. Anterior pain, or pain on the inside of the hip joint or groin area, could be the result of several conditions. These include arthritis, fractures, bursitis, hip flexor strains, labral tears, and infections. Lateral hip pain, or pain on the side of the hip, could be caused by snapping hip syndrome or bursitis. Posterior hip pain, or pain felt in the buttocks area, is usually due to issues with muscles, ligaments, or tendons that surround the hip joint, or due to sciatica.

In order to be certain what is causing your hip pain, your doctor will ask for a full medical history, perform a physical exam, as well as order some diagnostic tests. These can include imaging, like x-rays and MRI scans. In combination, your doctor will be able to make a diagnosis.

Treatment Options for Hip Pain

Depending on your diagnosis, your doctor will provide you different treatment options. It is common for a treatment plan to combine physical therapy, pain management, and self-care. Physical therapy is used to strengthen the muscles surrounding your hip and work on improving balance and flexibility. Physical therapy can also include massages and ultrasound to help reduce swelling. Pain management can include the use of over the counter pain medication like Advil or Tylenol to help reduce swelling in the joint. You may also be directed to use a combination of heat and ice to help improve pain and reduce swelling. Self-care treatments can include weight loss, or changing your exercise routine from high to low impact exercises. In more advanced cases, injections or surgery may be recommended.

Preventing Hip Pain

In some cases, hip pain from overuse can be easily prevented. Stretching and strengthening the hip area and your core can quickly improve your pain when walking. Changing up your exercise routine from high impact exercise like jogging to a low impact exercise like swimming can also help prevent hip pain. Yoga and pilates are also great low impact exercises that help you strengthen your core and muscles around your hip. Eating a balanced and nutritious diet, along with weight loss can also help you prevent hip pain.

Our physicians are highly experienced at diagnosing and treating the full range of orthopedic hip pain and conditions for patients. If your hip pain is disrupting your day-to-day, and you find walking increasingly difficult, schedule an appointment with us today! Fill out our online appointment request form.