We use our hips for everything, so when they hurt, that impacts our entire life. Our hips are what help to keep us upright, to bear our weight, to move with ease. If you suffer from hip pain, it can be from a number of causes. A chiropractor can help you both determine the root cause of your pain and offer a number of treatment methods aimed at providing long-term relief.
Common Causes Of Hip Pain
There are many potential causes of hip pain. Some of the most common include:
Age
As we age, our bodies naturally become more fragile due to years and years of wear and tear. While an active, healthy lifestyle can keep you strong and in good shape well into your senior years, age still can play a factor in hip pain due to all the use of the cartilage.
Overuse
We use our hips a lot! Sometimes though, doing repetitive motions for an extended period of time can lead to hip pain. Hips are used to being used in lots of different ways, so doing the same motion with them over and over again can cause pain, the same way that writing a lot can lead to writer’s cramp.
Overuse is a frequent cause of hip pain especially for those with active lifestyles such as athletes and dancers. All those high kicks take a toll after a while! In order to prevent hip pain from overuse from developing into arthritis, it’s important to see your chiropractor! They’ll keep your hips in tip-top condition so you can jump all over the stage or whatever else without fear of hip pain.
Injury
The damage overuse does to the hip over time is gradual – injuries aren’t. An injury can shatter or dislocate your hip bone, which can lead to debilitating hip pain. Sometimes even if you didn’t hurt the bone itself, an injury can still strain, sprain, or bruise your hip, which is also extremely painful.
Inflammation
Inflammation can result from injury, overuse, illness, and more. Whatever the cause, if the space around the joint of your hip becomes inflamed, this can cause a lot of pain.
Arthritis
Arthritis, also called osteoarthritis, is an inflammatory joint disease. It’s most common in older adults, although it can occur in younger people too. As mentioned above, if left untreated, the damage overuse does can lead to arthritis over time. Arthritis causes stiffness, swelling, cartilage loss, and joint deterioration over time. As such, it’s a common cause of hip pain for those who suffer from it. Arthritis isn’t curable, but with proper treatment, it can be slowed and symptoms can be minimized.
In addition to these, hip pain could be caused by a number of other conditions or injuries elsewhere in your body. Sciatica, muscle tears, and iliotibial band issues are some other potential causes of pain. An examination will show your doctor or chiropractor what the source of your pain is.
How Chiropractors Help Hip Pain
Chiropractors offer relief for hip pain in a way that doesn’t involve medication or surgeries. Chiropractic care is non-invasive and personalized to you. When you see a chiropractor for hip pain, they will conduct a physical examination and ask questions about your personal history in order to determine the root cause of your hip pain in order to determine the best treatment plan for you.
Some of the ways that chiropractors treat hip pain are as follows:
Chiropractic Adjustments
Perhaps the most commonly known method of pain relief chiropractors offer is through adjustments that are aimed to get everything back into alignment and minimize stresses on certain areas of the body, such as your hip joint. A spinal adjustment can reduce or eliminate the stress put on your hip, ergo, helping your hip pain.
Exercises
One of the best ways to reduce the likelihood of pain and to help you heal from current pain is through a variety of exercises designed to strengthen the muscles around your hips. These will keep your hips in better shape, and if you worry about overuse, these exercises can help prevent that.
Some common exercises chiropractors will have you do include external hip rotations and hip and lower back stretches. They can be done both with your chiropractor and at home by yourself.
Stretches
As mentioned above, stretches can also be included in your chiropractor’s treatment plan for your hip pain. Stretching increases mobility, and obviously, if something hurts, it limits your mobility. Stretching will help you get that back.
Some common stretches to help your hips include: hip abduction, hip extension, and mini squats.
Some chiropractors may also utilize a number of other treatment methods in order to help you out. They may involve electrotherapy, cold laser therapy, massages, infrared sauna, and deep ultrasounds, amongst others.
Do You Need Help With Hip Pain?
Grant Chiropractic believes in the effectiveness of chiropractic care for getting to the root cause of your hip pain in order to provide long term relief. If you are suffering from hip pain, please feel free to contact us to set up an adjustment. We also treat back pain, do spinal adjustments, and a multitude of other chiropractic concerns. For more information about hip pain or any of our other services, call 801-546-2273 today!
