Hip pain is a condition that a lot of people may face. Hip has the biggest joint in the body and it is almost used for almost all movements. There is a cartilage layer between the bones that protects the joint, serves as a pillow and decreases friction.
Determining exactly where the hip pain is, can help to find the source of the pain. As the pain in the hip area can depend on diseases related with the hip joint, they can also depend on pathologies of soft tissues like muscle, tendon, bursa around the hip. Also pain in the back or knee joints can also be felt in the hip.
Despite its reliable mechanism, the hip joint can be easily injured because it is subjected to various movements, stress and weight. This usually occurs because of injuries, wearing or corrosion.
Hip pain can be felt in different areas depending on the type of the disease. The pain can be felt at the back of the hip, in front of the hip, in the groin. Sometimes the pain can expand to knee area.
Some diseases that cause hip pain are more common for some age group. Therefore, when diagnosing, it is necessary to consider the age of the patient.
In infants and in childhood period, developmental hip problems, microbial hip diseases, infected joint rheumatisms, drifting in the hip joint can be evident.
For youngsters and middle aged individuals, the possibility of infectious joint rheumatisms must be considered if they have hip pains that increase after resting in the evening and makes a jamming feeling.
Calcification in the hips and hip fractures related to traumas must be considered for older age groups.
Bruises, tendinitis, muscle stress depending on the soft tissues around the hip can be the cause of the pain for any age group.
Rarely, there can be a malignant disease which affects the hip joint. Also, herniated disks and inner organ problems must be examined.
The most common problems that cause pain in the hip area are the following.
1. Arthritis (rheumatism Diseases), infectious or degenerative (calcification) joint disease may develop on hips and cause pain and limited mobility. Pain, jamming and limited joint mobility can develop.
2. Hip fractures: Especially for older individuals, when the fragility of the bones increase, hip fractures may occur after falling. Also, limited mobility is evident along with hip pain.
3. Bruises: Overuse of strained of bags filled with liquid, which protect the muscles and tendons can cause inflammation and an depending on this hip pain may develop. Depending on the inflammation of the bursa located on the prominent bone on the side of the hip and this can be more severe when going up or down the stairs.
4. Tendinitis Inflammation may develop in the tendons, which are the thick structure that link the bones and muscles together because of overusage and trauma. This results in hip pain.
5. Strained muscles: Hip pain and spasm can develop because of strained or traumatized muscles.
6. Cancers: Cancers that develop on the hip bone or metastasis can cause hip pain. The pain may be more severe, especially at night time or may cause fractures.
7. Avascular necrosis: Depending on the degeneration of the blood flow of the hip bone cells may die and hip pain may develop. This condition may be the result of various causes like congenital hip dislocation or long term cortisone use and may cause hip pain.
8. Infections: The infection of the hip joint or the soft tissues around it may cause hip pains and fever, increase in white blood cell count.
9. Reflective pains: Also, pathologies of organs, other than back and knee, around the pelvic area can expand to the hip. Back and knee examination of the patients with hip pains must also be made and diseases related with urinary system and genital organs must be considered.
10. Congenital anomalies: Congenital hip dislocation, structural deformities in the hip can also cause hip pains later on.
11. Vascular and nervous pathologies: Trapping of veins that are close to the hip joint or nerves or hematomas depending on the vascular pathologies can cause hip pain.