Hip and Pelvis Care

The hip is a large “ball and socket” joint that serves in locomotion as the thigh moves forward and backward. The pelvic bone is called the acetabulum and the ball is known as the femoral head. Covering this ball and socket joint is cartilage that acts as a cushion and allows smooth hips movement. Hip pain is generally caused by muscles, ligaments, tendons or nerves surrounding the hip joint.

Pain in the hip can result from several factors. Some hip pain is temporary while others can be chronic, including inflammatory and non-inflammatory arthritis, fracture, sprain, septic arthritis, muscle strain, etc. A few of the causes are mentioned below in detail:

Labral Tear
Diagnosis is difficult and neglected most of the time.

Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI)
In FAI, bony growth occurs around the hip joint that restricts a hip joint’s easy movement. This causes tears of labrum and hip osteoarthritis.Patient can suffer of it in longer time without finding the proper diagnosis.

Snapping Hip
Internal and external snapping hip is one of the missed diagnosis.

Osteoarthritis
It is caused due to the constant wear and tear of the cartilage surrounding the hip joint over time with increasing age. The joint space between the bones of the hip joint narrows, leading to direct rubbing of bone on bone that causes pain and inflammation.

Soft tissue pain and referred pain
Referred pain in the hip is caused due to an injury and defect affecting the soft tissues outside of the hip.

Fracture
The hip fracture causes deep, boringdull pain in the outer-upper thigh region. It can occur due to stress injury, fall or direct blow to the hip. Intake of steroids, smoking and medical conditions weaken the bones to additional hip injury risk factors.

Piriformis Syndrome
Piriformis Syndrome occurs when the sciatic nerve becomes irritated or compressed by the piriformis muscle, located deep within the buttocks, near the hip joint. The pain typically begins in the posterior hip and buttock region and moves down to the thigh.

Perthes disease
Perthes disease affects the children lying in the age of 3 to 11 years. It is caused due to reduced blood supply to bone cells resulting in the death of femur bone cells and complete bone strength loss

Various oral medications are used to ease hip pain related to several conditions, including osteoarthritis, labrum tear, bursitis, or femoroacetabular impingement.

There are several measures you can take to prevent hip pain and injury

• Lose weight.
• Eat a balanced diet, containing sufficient vitamin D and calcium to main bone health.
• Perform regular exercise.
• Stretch before and cool down after exercising.
• Practice yoga and exercises such as swimming and biking

Physical Therapy is essential for easing pain and treating most of thr causes of hip pain. In addition to medication and surgery in some cases, exercises help improve the strength, flexibility, and mobility of your hip. Massage, heat and ice can soothe inflammation within the hip.

Surgery is required for certain hip injuries, fractures and severe arthritis. Hip osteoarthritis that worsens despite conservative measures,may require a total hip replacement. Hip arthroscopy may be used to correct a torn hip labrum and femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. Fractures can require treatment with surgical repairs, including pinning, plates and screws, and total joint replacement. For serious arthritis, total joint replacement is performed