With its location near your Gluteal muscles, thigh bones, and quadriceps, your hip is vital to your mobility. On top of that, your hips’ close proximity to the spine offers some kind of stability to your whole body. It’s safe to say that an injured hip could cause more issues, including even the inability to walk or stand properly.
Your hip joint, where your hip and thigh bones connect, supports your body weight. It’s not just in moving like walking or running; a healthy hip joint will help you avoid any kind of pain, even in static positions like sitting, standing, and lying down.
All these considered, it’s not surprising why many people, especially athletes, spend resources on caring for their hips. Most of them include hip stability exercises in their workout routines or invest in treatments like physical therapy in Troy.
Of course, you can do your part in making sure that you avoid hip pain. You can start by learning about the most common causes of hip pain, which we listed for you below.
1. Hip Osteoarthritis
While it’s true that osteoarthritis develops as we age, young people are no exception to this type of arthritis. It could come from heredity, obesity, or an aggravation of a previous hip injury.
Osteoarthritis targets your body’s joints; a common location could be a person’s hip joint. Known as hip osteoarthritis, the pain it causes can be felt in your groin, thigh, and buttocks. When you often feel pain or experience problems moving your hips, consult a doctor immediately to know if you already have hip osteoarthritis.
2. Muscle Strains
Muscle strain, particularly in your hip flexor, could be very painful. In some cases, it may even require medical attention or physical therapy. A hip strain could result from overuse, overstretching, or tearing your hip joint.
To avoid hip strain, make sure that you always do stretching exercises before engaging in strenuous physical activities. Without proper stretching, your muscles won’t be ready for high-impact physical activities, which could result in muscle strain.
3. Hip Tendonitis
Hip tendonitis is another effect of overusing the muscles in your hips. Too much exercise or strenuous activities typically cause inflamed tendons. Some symptoms of hip tendonitis include stiffness upon contraction and intensifying pain in the latter part of your day.
Hip tendonitis is a common injury among athletes, especially when they miscalculate the intensity of their training and workouts. If you’re an athlete or a fitness enthusiast, make sure that you have prepared your body before increasing the intensity levels of your workout. A sudden increase in training impact could result in hip tendonitis.
4. Hip Fracture
People getting on with age might have higher chances of sustaining hip pain. As they age, their bones weaken, including those in their hips. This could result in a hip fracture, where a break appears in the hip joint’s thighbone (or femur).
Bones become brittle due to osteoporosis, which usually happens in older people. This is one of the main reasons why it’s highly recommended for the elderly to drink milk with lots of calcium.
5. Hip Dislocation
Hip dislocation is a true medical emergency that needs immediate attention. This happens when your hip’s ball joint pops out of its socket. If there’s a failure to provide immediate medical care, there’s a higher chance that this could result in a long-term health issue.
Among the five hip pain causes included in this list, hip dislocation is the most rare. It takes a very forceful impact or accident for an individual to sustain hip dislocation.