Is My Hip Pain Serious? Cause of Hip Pain and Treatment Options to Get You Moving Again!

Uncontrollable hip pain can force your life to a grinding halt. . . literally. Our hip joints are considered to be the most durable joints in our body because of their "ball and socket" structure. This joint structure/shape allows a larger range of motion across a larger variety of angles.

However, because we ask this joint to do so much, there is a potential for faster degeneration of the ligaments, protective cartilage, and the bones that make up the hip joint. Especially if we are over-compensating for other areas of the body. Below, you will find some of the most common causes for hip pain.

1) Degeneration/Osteoarthritis of the Hip. Degeneration occurs in every joint, the only variable that changes is time. Eventually, all of our joints begin to wear down due to the stress and activity we subject them to. However, there are certain factors than can accelerate the degeneration process. For example, if we experience a knee injury early on in life, the body is going to want to orient itself away from the knee injury. Therefore, we begin to place more weight (and stress during activity) on the hips, which causes them to bear abnormal amounts of weight; causing them to degenerate faster.

Once the protective cartilage in your joints, in this case the hips, is gone, you can't really get it 100% back. After the degeneration of the hip cartilage has reached a certain level, the bones begin creating friction with one another resulting in osteoarthritis and changes in the shape of the bone.

2) Bursitis. The hip joint is surrounded by fluid-filled sacks called "bursae". These bursae allow for shock absorption, fluidity of movement, joint support, and prevention of pain and inflammation. However, sometimes when the hip joint is exposed to acute injury, or abnormal amounts of stress over a short period of time, these bursae become inflamed. This reaction typically generates swelling, tenderness in the hip joint, and inflammation that limits range of motion.

3) Autoimmune Disorders. The term "auto immune" indicates that the body's immune system doesn't recognize its own cells, and then elicits an immune response against those cells. Certain autoimmune disorders attack specific regions of the body. Imagine that your body's immune system doesn't recognize its own hip joint so it treats it like a bacteria/virus. As a result, the hip joint becomes inflamed and causes a lot of pain. 


Treatments:

It is important to seek the advice of a medical professional when confronting your chronic hip pain. All of the causes outlined above can be contributing factors to your hip pain, so the first step is to find out the actual cause. From there, your physician will recommend a treatment plan for you.

If you are in the Charlotte, NC area, all you need to do is contact Modern Concepts for your hip pain! You can either contact us at 803-802-2225 or search "hip pain near me" and Modern Concepts will pop up!

​We wish you the best of luck and health! ​