Why You Shouldn't Ignore Your Chronic Hip Pain

While hip pain is a common medical complaint, ignoring a persistent or chronic case isn't wise. Damage could develop that’s preventable with treatment. 

The team of hip pain specialists at 360 Orthopedics can assess the reasons behind your condition and help you develop a management plan designed to minimize the impact of hip pain and its effects on your life. 

Causes of chronic hip pain

Most hip pain tends to result from overexertion of the joint, a problem that’s often remedied with simple solutions like rest, recovery time, and perhaps over-the-counter pain medications.

Chronic pain, though, doesn’t improve with care. Instead, it’s persistent, or it gets worse with time. A common reason for chronic hip pain is joint deterioration because of osteoarthritis, a common wear-and-tear condition. 

Other common causes of chronic hip pain include arthritic conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis. Less common are non-arthritic hip joint issues. These can include: 

• Labral tears: damage to the cartilage that lines the hip socket
• Impingement: resulting from bones in the hip joint that don’t fit together well
• Dysplasia: instability from a hip joint that suffers abnormal development
• Avascular necrosis: dying bone tissue resulting from interrupted blood supply

Chronic hip problems may also result from an injury to the joint. Sometimes, pain from the sacroiliac joint between the spine and pelvis may be mistaken for hip pain. 

Why you shouldn’t ignore chronic hip pain

It’s often tempting to live with chronic pain, particularly when it’s low or mid-level pain or when you can avoid it by skipping certain activities. However, your hips are essential joints for a wide range of fundamental movements upon which your ability to function depends. 

Consider these four reasons why you shouldn’t ignore chronic hip pain: 

Causes of hip pain may be progressive

We’ve already discussed how hip pain can stem from joint conditions, particularly osteoarthritis. It’s a condition for which there’s no cure and one for which you can expect continued deterioration of joint function, particularly if you bypass treatment. 

Minor problems can get worse

Repetitive strain injuries and stress fractures can be relatively minor causes of pain, but the demands of daily life may make it difficult for these injuries to heal naturally. Without treatment, minor injuries can become more serious conditions, causing hard-to-relieve pain. 

Compensatory injuries

When your hips hurt, it’s natural for your gait or posture to alter to reduce pain. However, this starts a cascade of effects in other joints of your body. Your entire musculoskeletal system works in an integrated way, so chronic hip pain today can lead to imbalances and other joint problems in the future. 

Chronic pain leads to a sedentary life

When your hips hurt, walking can be difficult, and it’s natural to choose resting over this most fundamental of healthy movements. However, when your chronic hip pain is managed, you can stay active and gain the benefits of motion that are crucial to a healthy lifestyle. 

There’s an answer to chronic hip pain. Contact 360 Orthopedics today, by phone or online, to discover your answer.