Why you have Hip Pain

The specific Hip Condition coud be any number of the following:

• Hip Arthritis
• Labrum Tears
• Tight Hip Capsules
• Hip Impingement (Femoral-Acetabular Impingement)
• Instability of the Hip
• Referred Low Back Pain
• Referred Herniated Disc
• Hip Bursitis
• etc

Most of these conditions develop over time as opposed to from a single violent mechanism. It might have been a specific event (picking up a pencil, moving a couch, etc) that pushed you over the edge, but more likely than not, the descructive factors have been building for years.

Hip Injury Predisposing Factors

1. Poor Hip Flexibility - Sometimes people are born with poor flexiblity in their hips as a result of their anatomy. The shapes of their hip and pelvic bones just don't lead to great movement. The majority of us, on the other hand, just don't move our hips enough in all the different ranges of motion to maintain proper flexibility. As a result, when you move your body, since the movement isn't coming from the hips, innapropriate and excessive motion will occur in the lower back and pelvis, which will lead to lower back pain.

2. Inflexibility of the Shoulders or Upper Torso - When there is a lack of flexibility in the shoulders or upper torso, and a movement of the arm is made, abnormal stresses are placed upon the pelvis and hips. The lower torso isn't designed to rotate very much, but in the absence of proper upper torso flexibility it's forced to. That leads to excessive tension and stress on the hips.

3. Poor Core Stability - Based on the explanation provided for the first two factors, an environment of excessive movement takes place in the lower back. That overburdens the hips muscles leaving you with a feeling of tension, stiffness, or tightness. In reality that whole environment only occurs because of too much movement in the lower back and inadequate control of the hips.

Hip Pain Treatment Options

Beyond an orthopedic and range of motion testing to the immediate structures involved in the injury, the second aspect to look at is what predisposing factors are at play. Once found there would be a combination of:

1. Joint Manipulation to any joint restriction in the spine or hips (performed by a chiropractor or trained physical therapist).

2. Soft Tissue Manipulation to any adhesion, scar tissue, or imbalances in the musculature surrounded the hips or low back. The treatment options involve Active Release Technique (ART), Graston Technique, Trigger Point treatment, muscle energy techniques, etc.

3. Exercises aimed at retraining the movement and control of the body at the upper torso, low back, and hips. Typically involving increasing the upper torso flexibility, hip flexibility and pelvic/lower back control.