When to See a Doctor About Hip Pain

Hip pain can make you feel stiff and sore, stop you from doing things you’d normally do and enjoy, and even land you in bed or on the couch, suffering for days at a time. If hip pain is in your thoughts during every waking hour, it’s time to seek help.

At Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine (AOSM), with locations in Union City and Dyersburg, Tennessee, Dr. Michael Calfee, Paxton Sisson PA-C, and the rest of our skilled team can help figure out the root cause of your hip pain and recommend an appropriate course of treatment.

Reason behind hip pain

Hip pain — or any other type of pain — is a signal to your brain about a problem in your body. Chronic pain can make you feel wiped out, lethargic, and unwilling to move, as your brain gets bombarded by constant messages. Finding out what’s causing your hip pain and treating the cause can help you get your life back.

Causes of hip pain

The most common cause of chronic hip pain is arthritis, stemming from age-related joint wear-and-tear or an old injury. Gaining weight can make arthritic hip pain worse. So can back injuries, or a too-firm or too-soft mattress. 

You may also experience chronic hip pain due to bursitis (inflammation of fluid-filled sacs cushioning the hip) or misalignment that causes hip dysplasia or impingement (the hip bone not aligning with the socket). 

Acute hip pain is usually caused by a sports injury, a fall, or by lifting something heavy. These activities can mean a labral tear (damage to the ring of cartilage that goes around the hip joint), tendonitis (inflammation of tendons attached to the hips), or a torn ligament where it attaches to the hip joint.

Finally, you can get referred pain in your hip due to spine degeneration. This is more likely if you’re a woman who suffers from osteoarthritis. Treating the spine usually alleviates the hip pain.

Seeing a doctor about hip pain

Dr, Calfee can examine you and help figure out what’s causing your hip pain. Depending on the diagnosis, he may recommend one or more of the following:

• Corticosteroid injections
• Pain medications
• Physical therapy
• Massage therapy
• Movement modifications
• Surgery

The goal is to reduce pain and restore mobility, so you can enjoy an active, healthy life once more.

Ready to find out what’s causing your hip pain? To get in touch, call the AOSM location closest to you, or book an appointment online.