How to Identify the Severity of Your Hip Pain

According to the Center for Disease Control, around 7% of all American adults suffer from hip pain. As we age and activities become more painful, it can be difficult to know when something is seriously wrong or just a normal ache and pain.

How do you know when your hip pain is more than a minor inconvenience and needs to be treated by a medical professional?

Our answer is that if your hip pain disrupts your everyday routine, isn’t going away after a break from physical activity, or causes discomfort while moving, it’s time to contact your doctor.

How Do You Identify the Severity of Your Hip Pain?

Everyone has a different pain tolerance, but when it comes to hip injuries, there are some common symptoms to help you know that it’s serious and needs medical attention:

• Difficulty with daily activities like putting on pants or socks
• Trouble walking as far as you want
• Pain and/or stiffness

Where is Your Hip Pain Located?

One of the trickiest aspects of hip pain is that it can affect so many different parts of your body. Sometimes, hip pain manifests in the groin or inside of the hip; other times, it spreads to your lower back. The location of your hip pain gives us a better idea of where the hip joint is damaged.

Common Causes of Hip Pain

There are several causes for hip pain, including:

Arthritis: This is a leading cause of hip pain, characterized by inflammation, pain, swelling, and joint stiffness.

Bursitis: Inflammation of the bursae, small fluid-filled sacs that cushion bones, tendons, and muscles, cause significant hip pain. Iliopectineal and trochanteric bursitis are the most prevalent forms.

Injuries: From sports injuries to traumatic events like falls or car accidents, any damage to the hip joint’s components can result in pain.

How Do You Treat Hip Pain?

The approach to treating hip pain varies based on its cause and severity.

If you have a low level of pain, focus on minimizing discomfort. Specific strategies like the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) method work best when treating a minor hip injury.

For temporary relief while using the RICE method, over-the-counter NSAIDs or acetaminophen alleviate pain and inflammation. These medications provide short-term relief and should not be used for long periods; otherwise, they may cause other issues.

Annoying hip pain that seems to stick around, we recommend physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around the hip and improve stability. Your personalized routine would involve stretching, strength exercises, and other treatment methods.

If everything else doesn’t work, you’ll need to look into getting surgery. We may recommend a procedure like hip arthroscopy or hip replacement depending on the injury, location, and other factors.