Hip pain

Hip Pain

When people suffer from hip pain, often their first thought is that maybe arthritis is attacking them. The first thing to be aware of is that it probably isn’t.

The hip is like any other joint, in that if muscle action upon the joint is inappropriate, see why do I have pain. then pain will develop either in the joint or around it in the soft tissue,(the muscles and ligament and connective tissues) It’s true that if the joint is worked hard in this condition, the wearing process may out pace the repair process, but if the inappropriate muscle action is resolved, the joint has a much better chance to repair.

Some of the most powerful muscles in the body move and control the hip joint, these include the huge gluteus muscles on the surface of the backside, and notably, the piriforms, beneath the gluteus, which is renowned for compressing the sciatic nerve if it goes into a spasm. All in all there are eleven muscles to be considered, assessed, and properly treated, that directly affect the hip, not to mention the indirect effect of the leg muscles and torso (body) muscles.

It’s important to remember that in mainstream medicine, much attention is paid to the hip joint itself. Much study is devoted to joint diseases, (most of which begin with muscle dysfunction in some form...) This study lends itself to cataloguing the myriad forms of disease that can develop in the joints. In fact, if there is no sign of these disease processes, it's deemed that you have no real problem! so you will be sent away until tests show that you really do have a problem. 

So, If I showed you a medical text book devoted to the hip, you would become aware of many, many different disease processes that could be the cause of your pain, but there would be nothing devoted to the most likely cause, which is the stress of muscles pulling in the wrong way upon your hip, which will  eventually lead to joint disease. If I can help to normalise this stress, then, under the right conditions, the body is capable of healing just about any damage.

If you have pain in your hip, try not to create pictures of diseases or conditions such as arthritis. The mind is an extraordinarily powerful influence on the body and I believe is quite capable of manifesting your worst fears within your body. (see Thoughts and Pain). Instead, see the pain as your body asking for help. Don’t ignore it, try and get some form of assessment and treatment.

When you come and see me, the first thing I will do is assess your joint to see if there is any sign of arthritis. This is actually relatively easy to do. (although the only sure way to diagnose is through x-ray). If I can’t detect arthritis, or suspect the mild beginnings of this condition, then there is a very good chance that treatment will ease your pain and put the body in a position where it can begin to repair itself.

Remember, your body has the capacity to heal any damage, so even though there may be physical wear or tear, the body is much better equipped to deal with it and heal it, if we can remove any obstruction to that healing process, through treatment.

It’s difficult to say how many sessions it may take to ease and/or resolve your hip pain but look at Your First Visit/ How Many Sessions for an idea of how I work in this respect.

There are other factors beyond arthritis and muscle dysfunction that may cause you hip pain, notably bursitis, this is a difficult condition to heal, and in depth questioning during your Case History  will help me determine if this is a possibility.

Problems with your feet or your knees may also be a predisponding factor relating to hip pain. these too, need to be assessed. Also any compromising of your spinal nerves could lead to hip symptoms.