Hip Bursitis

Bursitis is an inflammatory condition that arises due to swelling up of the bursa. The structure of bursa can be described as a small sac filled up with synovial fluid. The fluid is present in various large, movable joints of the body like hip, shoulder, knee, elbow, etc. It reduces the friction between the bones, muscles and other soft tissues of the joints and ensure smooth and easy joint movements. When a bursa present in the hip joint gets inflamed, then it causes a lot of pain during hip movements. This condition is known as hip bursitis.

Causes
The common causes of hip bursitis are injury caused by overuse of the hip and excessive pressure on the hip joints. Repetitive hip joint motions during activities like running, cycling or climbing up the stairs often irritate the bursa in the hips. On the other hand, standing for long hours, sitting on hard surface and excessive bodyweight exerts a lot of pressure on the hip and may result in bursitis. Traumatic injury due to a bad fall on the hip and degenerative diseases like arthritis and gout also cause this kind of inflammation. Any structural abnormality of the legs that forces one to limp while walking and a hip surgery can be responsible for this problem.

Symptoms
The most identifiable symptom is, of course, burning hip pain whose intensity and characteristic is different in every individual case. There are mainly two different types of hip bursitis. One is trochanteric bursitis and the other one is ischial bursitis. In trochanteric bursitis, the pain is felt at the side of the hip. On the other hand, pain due to ischial bursitis is experienced at the base of the hip near the buttocks. A unique characteristic of the pain is that it gets aggravated after walking long distances or while climbing up a slope surface of hill or stairs. The pain is accompanied by localized swelling and stiffness. It can stiffen the joint so badly that the range of motion of the joint often gets badly affected. It becomes severe when you try to get up from a sitting or lying position. Sometimes, one can hear popping sound while flexing the affected hip or pulling the leg.

Treatment
Hip bursitis is diagnosed with the help of a series of laboratory tests including x-rays and MRI scan. Doctors first advise patients suffering to give sufficient rest to the hip joint so that the bursa gets scope to heal. You have to modify your lifestyle in order to minimize hip movements. You have to avoid using stairs temporarily. While sitting, you have to use cushioned chair. If your sleeping position aggravates the pain, then it has be changed too.

Resting should be accompanied by cold compression. It helps to bring down the joint inflammation by constricting the blood vessels of the region. You can pack some crushed ice in a plastic bag or use frozen peas for this purpose. Wrap up the ice pack in a piece of cloth and put it on the affected joint for 15 minutes. It should be applied 3-4 times in a day. You should continue to apply ice regularly till the time the pain and inflammation subsides.

Doctors prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) to provide temporary relief from hip pain. If the pain is severe, then corticosteroid injection are administered directly into the inflamed bursa. This can give an instant relief from the pain and its effect last for quite some time. If there is an infection in the bursa, then it has to be treated with suitable antibiotics. Sometimes, doctors may prescribe this medicine just to prevent any infection.

As the pain and stiffness goes down a bit, doctors recommend physical therapy. It includes massaging of the soft tissues in order to ease off the stiffness and exercises under the supervision of a physical therapist. The exercises involves some simple hip bursitis stretches that can add strength to the muscles and tendons of the region.

If a large amount of fluid gets accumulated inside the bursa cavity, then it is removed by the doctors with the help of a needle. In some worse cases, where non surgical treatment fails to cure the problem, doctors opt for surgery to remove the bursae or a section of the hip bone.

Hip bursitis can be prevented to a great extent by minimizing the pressure on the hip joint. For this, you must wear shoes that provide enough support to the hip joint. While exercising, make sure that you are standing on a leveled ground surface. Those who are overweight must lose some body weight.