Hip Pain Treatment in London

Many patients attend the clinics fairly regularly describing pain and stiffness in and around the hip joints. Hip pain can cause discomfort, aches and pains which often cause difficulty undertaking everyday tasks. Suffering from hip pain can also limit your mobility and affect the way you stand and move, preventing you from living a full and able life. Hip pain describes pain in regions from the lower outer back and buttocks, as well as groin pain and pain in the thigh or knee. It can occur from a wide range of conditions and possible causes. Some of which can be treated by an osteopath. These include: 

 

• Referred pain from the lower back or from sacro-iliac joints often causes pain in the upper, outside thigh.

 

• Muscle tightness, strain or imbalance (often including the iliopsoas, gluts or piriformis muscles) can be as a result from an injury where the muscles or ligaments have been strained or overused.

 

• Hip osteoarthritis (wear and tear) is the result of a narrowing of the space within the joint and damage to the cartilage. With hip osteoarthritis you may experience pain in the groin that goes down the legs towards the knee. Whilst osteopathic treatment cannot cure arthritis it can be successfully managed and help reduce the symptoms whilst preventing progression of the wear and tear by gently massaging the hip muscles because they are having to work harder than usual around the stiff joint, stretching the hip joint to improve the function and movement of the joint and releasing secondary problems in the back, knees or ankles. The aim of this is to reduce the load placed on the arthritic joint and in turn reduce the pain you are experiencing. 

 

• Labral tear is caused by a tear in the type of cartilage that surrounds the socket of ball-and-socket joints. A degenerative tear is an injury that occurs as a result of repetitive use and activity. Degenerative labral tears are seen early on in the stages of hip arthritis whereas a traumatic hip labral tear is usually as a result of an acute injury. With labral tears, sudden, twisting movements cause immediate pain in the hip.

 

• Trochanteric bursitis is inflammation and swelling of the bursa, a fluid filled sac found between the bones and muscles and tendons around a joint, normally as a result of too much friction. Usually, these sacs allow the muscles to glide over the bones to allow the joints to move as freely as possible. However, injury and repetitive movement such as running can irritate these sacs if too much pressure is placed upon them. The pain with bursitis is often worse when lying on the painful side and is generally worse in the mornings. Osteopathic treatment uses soft tissue techniques to reduce inflammation and pain around the area. Ice packs are also advised to reduce inflammation and exercises are recommended to continue with at home.

 

• Pelvic girdle pain (PGP) affects up to 1 in 5 pregnant women to some degree. In most cases it resolves after giving birth which decreases the load on the pelvis. PGP is a term used to describe pain, discomfort and instability in any of the pelvic joints, the sacroiliac joints at the back and or pubic symphysis at the front. Osteopathic treatment uses gentle techniques to improve joint mobility and ease the supportive muscles making sure your left right and left side are balanced. Any tension or restriction in the rest of the body that may have been present before the pregnancy which may have predisposed you to pelvic pain will also be addressed.

 

• Hip flexor tendinopathy or ‘snapping hip syndrome’ which is where hips ‘click’ with the feeling of a tendon ‘pinging’ causing pain due to the overuse and/or shortening of the hip flexor muscles.