Hip Pain: Important Symptoms You Need to Recognize

Hip pain is another common ailment that I see in my pain management clinic. Patients experience hip pain in diverse ways. Below are scenarios that I see the most often.

1) Sometimes lower back pain (L4-5 and L5-S1) can mimic hip pain.
● In this area, patients tend to feel centralized lower back pain that radiates into their glutes.

This lower back pain may be the result of the following:

o arthritis,
o neural foraminal narrowing,
o degenerative disc disease (DDD), or
o bulging discs.
● Occasionally, patients may have degenerative changes in the hip joint, arthritis, or osteoarthritis that form in the acetabulum and other joint spaces.

Treatment:

● A steroid hip injection will provide significant relief for this.
2) Every so often, patients will have tenderness in their lower back and glutes. This is typically caused by inflammation in the sacroiliac joint(s), also known as sacroiliitis.

Symptoms

● Difficulty walking and sitting
● Favoring one leg more than the other

Treatment

● A thorough assessment by a primary care specialist and pain management specialist is recommended.
● An X-ray of the hips and an MRI or CT of the lumbar are needed.
● Depending on the severity of the hip pain, NSAIDs and steroid injections are recommended.

At times, patients may have a torn labrum, a torn glute, or a femoral head or pelvis fracture. If this is the case, a consult with an orthopedic surgeon is recommended.