Hip Pain Relief

In today's fast paced world and with obesity on the rise, there are a number of health problems that people are afflicted with. Hip pain is one of the most common problem affecting the hip joints and the structures surrounding the hip. It results in common hip pain symptoms like an inability to walk comfortably on the affected side, deformity around the hip joints, an inability to bend the hip and swelling around the hip joints. Before we can look at the appropriate relief for hip pain, let us first understand the causes of hip pain.

Hip Pain Causes

Before you can provide the hip pain treatment, you need to understand the causes of joint pain. Some of the most common hip pain causes include:

• Arthritis
• Trochanteric bursitis
• Tendinitis
• Fibromyalgia
• Hip Osteonecrosis
• Snapping hip syndrome
• Tenosynovitis
• Groin pulls and hamstring strains
• Hip fractures and dislocation
• Stress fractures
• Low-back pain such as sciatica
• Infection

While these medical conditions seem to affect mostly older people and athletes. In children, hip pain can be caused by developmental dysplasia, toxic synovitis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and Perthes disease which is usually a signal of early arthritis.

Hip Pain Relief and Treatment

The relief for hip pain is based on the cause of the problem. However, the doctor is likely to recommend the least invasive treatment like physical and rehabilitation therapy to alleviate pain and encourage healing of your condition before resorting to surgery. Here is a look at some of the common hip pain relief measures.

Rest: Resting for long periods of time so that you do not strain the hip joints due to unnecessary movements help in reducing the swelling and irritation within the joint. If you cannot take extended periods of rest for several days, then try taking breaks of around thirty minutes each day to rest the hp and avoid excessive movement. This will allow the pain to subside and protect the affected joint from overuse. Avoid high impact exercises like running, jogging and step aerobics that can strain your hips and cause the hip pain to worsen.

Ice Pack Treatment: Cooling treatments like sponge baths, ice packs and other cold compresses help in alleviating the pain and swelling by reducing the constriction of blood vessels. Moreover, the ice pack treatment also decreases the likelihood of cellular damage by slowing the metabolism. Place the ice pack on the localized site helps in providing topical relief from the excruciating hip pain.

Exercises: Stretching exercises for the back and the knee along with yoga postures not only help in easing the hip pain but also allow you to lose weight. Exercises like swimming may be a good option because it stretches the muscles and builds good muscle tone without straining your hip joint. Consult a physical therapist before you start off with any exercises for the hip pain.

Massages: Massages that involves superficial tissue manipulation such as acupuncture can help in relieving the pain while also calming, relaxing and instigating self healing for the constant hip pain.

Over the Counter Medications: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug like ibuprofen, naproxen and other pain relievers like aspirin, acetaminophen, motrin, feldene, voltaren and naprosyn can help in reducing the swelling and relieving the pain symptoms.

Physical Therapy: Reducing the pain, improving mobility and restoring the function of the hip joints are some of the benefits of physical therapy. The therapist may recommend electrical stimulation, hot packs, cold compresses, ultrasound and traction or other hip pain relief products to relieve pain and reduce swelling. Some of the therapists may recommend exercises and teach the patients how to do the hip exercises at home to relieve the pain.

If all else fails then doctors may recommend partial or total hip joint replacement surgery along with resurfacing arthroplasty to provide hip pain relief. It is essential that before you can try out these relief measures, consult a doctor and get the cause of the hip pain diagnosed.