From today's article, you can find out what to do if your hip joint hurts.
It is this part of the human body that accounts for the maximum load when walking and running. Problems in this area can result in serious complications. Even if the pain occurs intermittently, proper treatment is necessary. In this case, the treatment option should be prescribed by the doctor after the diagnosis is made, since the treatment option depends entirely on the pathology.
Causes of pain in the hip joint
First of all, you need to know the causes of pain.
Traumatic causes
If painful syndromes in the joints are felt strongly, then the reasons may be the following:
- Congenital dislocation of the hip, which could appear during childbirth. Such damage is most often diagnosed in newborns. This can lead to pinched nerves.
- Traumatic dislocation is accompanied by very severe pain. Hematoma and edema occur over the affected area. This type of injury requires prompt treatment.
- A fracture of the neck of the femur often occurs in women over 60. The cause of the injury is a fall or blow. Unpleasant sensations are given to the inner thigh area. This ailment causes pinched nerves and difficulty walking.
- With a transvertebral fracture of the femur, pain is aggravated by movement. The limbs may go numb, and the pain shoots.
- A contusion of the hip joint is manifested by moderate pain. In a static state, such signs disappear. In this case, lameness may also occur.
Traumatic injuries are a common problem and cause quite unpleasant pain. In some cases, even surgery is required.
If you experience numbness, it is important to seek help right away. What the diseased joint looks like can be seen in the photo.
Systemic diseases
With systemic disorders of the connective tissue, pain can occur when walking. For this, an integrated approach is essential.
So, here are some pathologies that can cause pain:
- Ankylosing spondylitis is accompanied by dull pain. The pain is especially pronounced at night. The pain is localized in the sacrum or in the pelvis. At the same time, the knees hurt, it shoots and there may be discomfort in the groin area. A strong inflammatory process occurs inside the left and right joints.
- Reiter's syndrome presents with genitourinary, conjunctival, and joint problems. There is severe pain and fever.
- Rheumatoid arthritis is formed when the connective tissue is damaged. A complication of the disease can be coxarthrosis of the hip joints. At the beginning of the disease, swelling and edema appear. When walking, there is a feeling of discomfort, and the pain gives to the legs.
- During inflammation, the temperature may increase. The development of the disease causes stiffness of movements.
Systemic pathologies can provoke the appearance of different types of pain. However, it is not always possible to cope with the disease on your own.
If the treatment is wrong, complications will arise.
Degenerative changes
With this pathology, the pain is burning, pulling and sharp. They can be provoked by such diseases:
- Epiphyseal viral deformity often occurs during adolescence. The pain has a pulling and dull character. May radiate to the inner region of the knee. After training, the pain syndrome intensifies. The joint may click.
- Coxarthrosis is a common disease. It takes a long time to treat such a disease. The disease cannot be started, as it causes the formation of destructive and degenerative processes in the joints.
If the joints began to ache after a long walk, running or climbing stairs, then this can be considered the first sign of the disease.
At the next stage, the pain syndrome radiates to the groin and thigh. With daily stress, the intensity of symptoms may increase.
In this case, the work of tendons and muscles is disrupted. In the last stage, pain occurs even at night. Lameness becomes more pronounced and muscles atrophy. Such pathologies must be treated in a timely manner, otherwise they can lead to permanent lameness.
infectious diseases
Discomfort can be caused by inflammation of the tendons, muscles and joint bag.
Such infectious diseases can provoke painful symptoms:
- Purulent arthritis is expressed by high fever, severe swelling, acute pain and redness of the skin. Not only some movements are difficult, but also getting out of bed. Pains can shoot. In this case, urgent medical assistance is required.
- Necrosis of the head of the femoral bone occurs with poor blood flow in this area. This begins the death of tissue cells. Signs of the disease are acute pain, which is accompanied by a burning sensation and radiates to the groin. An injection of analgesics is often required to be able to stand up.
- Tuberculous arthritis often occurs in immunocompromised children. This pathology develops slowly. The kid gets tired quickly and runs a little. Over time, the joint begins to click, and the leg becomes shorter.
- Bursitis is an inflammatory pathology of the articular joints. The main symptom is pain radiating down the leg. Particular discomfort is felt while walking.
Features of the diagnosis of pathology
First, you should go to the therapist, who will tell you which doctor to go to. The patient is assigned a comprehensive diagnosis.
The following procedures apply:
- Ultrasound examination.
- X-ray of the thigh, which is performed in two projections.
- General and biochemical analysis of blood. In this case, the presence of rheumatoid factor is determined with a change in the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and the level of leukocytes.
- External examination with palpation and questioning of patients.
- MRI.
After the examination, the doctor will determine the exact diagnosis and prescribe a comprehensive treatment.
How to treat pathology
Therapeutic methods are largely determined by the causes that caused the disease.
congenital dislocation
With such a pathology, orthopedic devices are applied to the child, such as struts, stirrups or a Freik pillow.
These tools keep the legs of the baby in the correct position from a physiological point of view. They are used for at least six months.
In rare cases, when conservative methods do not help, surgery is prescribed. In this case, the head of the femur is reduced. Even after removing the orthopedic aids, the baby needs to be given a light massage that strengthens the muscles.
Traumatic dislocation
If there is such an ailment, then the doctor prescribes medications that help eliminate muscle tone, as well as set the joint back.
It is important to keep the patient calm. If the limbs begin to go numb, then this indicates a pinched nerve.
In this case, an examination by a neurologist is required.
Hip fracture
In this situation, the treatment is performed by a traumatologist. Most often, an operation is prescribed. If surgical intervention is not possible, then a cast is applied from the lower back to the heel.
It should be borne in mind that after 60 years, such injuries practically do not grow together.
Bechterew's syndrome
With such a disease, complex treatment is prescribed, which allows you to reduce the symptoms of inflammatory processes.
Therapy includes:
- Medications - hormonal, immunosuppressant and anti-inflammatory compounds.
- Therapeutic exercises - muscle stretching.
- Physiotherapy procedures.
- The right and left joints are massaged.
All sets of exercises and preparations should be selected by a traumatologist, surgeon or orthopedist. To strengthen the muscles of the pelvis, you need to practice swimming.
If the case is severe, then the patient may be prescribed arthroplasty.
Reiter's disease
To treat this pathology, anti-inflammatory drugs, glucocorticosteroids and drugs that depress the function of the immune system are used.
The treatment will take approximately 4 months.
Such a pathology may recur in the future. You also need to maintain tone with the help of exercises - stretching.
Rheumatoid arthritis
This disease is considered very common. Every hundredth person suffers from it. At the same time, women are more susceptible to it than men. This is due to the fact that during pregnancy there is a change in the structure of the pelvic bones.
The main symptom of the disease is pain and stiffness when walking.
Treatment with hormonal agents, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cytostatics is used.
Exercises, stretch marks and topical ointments are especially effective. Surgical intervention is used in the last stages of the disease, when it is impossible to walk and sit.
At the same time, arthroplasty and fixation of the joints are recommended. After the operation, there is a decrease in pain symptoms, improved mobility and prevention of possible complications.
Coxarthrosis
Corxarthrosis is a disease in which there are problems with hyaline cartilage.
It happens most often in older people. A variety of measures and procedures are used in the treatment. It can be both medications and surgery. First, a course of drugs is prescribed, and if it is not effective, then an operation is prescribed. In the early stages, the disease is treated with conservative methods.
Chondroprotectors, NSAIDs, as well as agents that improve blood flow are prescribed. For treatment, warming and analgesic ointments can be used, as well as therapeutic exercises.
In some cases, the joint needs to be anesthetized. If the discomfort is severe, then injections are used. If the stage is the last, then coxarthrosis is not amenable to therapy.
At the same time, any load will only worsen your well-being, and even getting out of bed causes pain. In such a situation, only surgical treatment will help.
Endoprosthesis replacement is often used, but this method is not used for the elderly. After the operation, recovery procedures and simple training are required, but under the supervision of a doctor.
The load must be minimal.
Treatment of inflammatory and infectious diseases
You need to know how to treat infectious pathologies. With such problems, treatment is prescribed by a doctor.
Therapeutic methods depend on the type of disease:
- With purulent arthritis, it is first necessary to anesthetize the affected hip joint. In this case, an analgesic injection is used. Antibiotics and antibacterial agents are used against infection. The removal of abscesses is also used. In this case, a splint or plaster is applied.
- To cure aseptic necrosis of the femoral head, it is necessary to restore blood flow so that the dead areas are restored. It is necessary to anesthetize with the help of NSAIDs. Complexes with vitamins and agents to reduce blood viscosity are actively used. If the thigh begins to ache, then you need to use an anesthetic composition and massage. Therapeutic gymnastics and physiotherapy procedures are also used. If the case is complex, then joint arthroplasty and surgical methods are used.
- With bursitis, the joint can hurt very much, so it should be anesthetized. In this case, anti-inflammatory compounds and analgesics are used. With severe discomfort, steroid agents are relevant.
- Tuberculous arthritis is treated conservatively. Joint mobility is limited by a special tight bandage. When an abscess is formed in the soft tissues, it is removed surgically.
Treatment at home
Please, do not self-medicate. Consult a doctor!
Folk remedies are an addition to the main treatment, but not a replacement for it. There are different ways to treat arthritis or arthrosis.
It should be borne in mind that all folk methods only help to drown out the painful symptoms, but do not help dramatically.
Here are some recipes:
- A horseradish compress is applied to the affected areas. To do this, the roots should be grated, then boiled in warm water. After that, the compress is applied to the affected areas.
- Cabbage treatment. This vegetable has long been used to relieve joint and bone pain. A compress can be made from leaves or cabbage juice. Juice can be squeezed with a juicer or from crushed leaves. The tissue is soaked in juice and applied to the affected area. Honey can be applied to the leaves and placed on the affected area overnight.
- An oatmeal compress is done like this. First, porridge is boiled in a small amount of water, and then placed in gauze. The compress is applied to the affected area.
- Grind the egg shell and mix it with kefir. The mixture is wrapped in linen or gauze, and then applied to the sore spot.
For arthritis, special solutions and decoctions are prepared for drinking. Apple cider vinegar is recommended to be taken several times a day.
In this case, a spoonful of the solution is placed in a glass of water.
Do not use the composition for stomach problems.
A decoction of bay leaf is also useful. Half a pack should be taken in a pot of water. Then the decoction should be filtered and drunk before going to bed.
You can be treated with the help of different juices. Especially effective are beetroot, carrot and juice options from other vegetables.
With the right and quick treatment, you can cope with any disease.
The main thing is not to give up, but follow all the recommendations of the doctor and, if possible, do therapeutic exercises.