Hip Pain

Understanding your problem

As with other specific conditions that can be addressed with manual therapy, it is important to first understand the history of your hip pain before a diagnosis can be made. This involves asking you: to describe your symptoms; when and how your symptoms started; which activities provoke pain or dysfunction and so on.

The history guides me in making an appropriate physical examination of the joint and surrounding tissue including joints above and below especially your knee, pelvis and spine. The examination might include observation in standing and on the treatment couch, palpation of the area as well as special tests of the joint.

Common hip problems I treat include

• Hip flexor dysfunction
• Trochanteric bursitis
• Labral tears
• Iliotibial band syndrome
• Greater trochanteric pain syndrome

Treatment

Treatment consists of applying manual therapy techniques such as soft tissue massage, joint mobilisation and stretches to the appropriate tissue. Sometimes this means a focus on the area of pain and sometimes this means relieving surrounding tissue that may have become painful or restricted because of adaptations you have made to accommodate your hip problem.

During the treatment we can discuss if a graded exercise programme is appropriate for you and if so I can take you through the relevant exercises after the manual therapy treatment.

Please not that if your hip pain is the result of trauma, such as a fall, then you may need to have the joint imaged, e.g. with an x-ray. If this is the case you should consult a doctor for a referral to an imaging unit.