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 represents the maximum load when walking and running. Problems in this area can lead to 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, since the treatment option completely depends on the pathology.
Causes of pain in the hip joint
First of all, you need to know the causes of pain.
Traumatic causes
If the pain syndromes in the joints are strongly felt, the reasons may be as follows:
- Congenital dislocation of the hip, which can appear during childbirth. This damage is most often diagnosed in newborns. This can lead to pinched nerves.
- Traumatic dislocation is accompanied by very intense pain. Hematoma and edema occur on the affected area. This type of injury requires prompt treatment.
- A femoral neck fracture often occurs in women over the age of 60. The cause of the injury is a fall or blow. Unpleasant sensations are given to the inner thigh. This disease causes pinched nerves and difficulty walking.
- With a transvertebral fracture of the femur, the pain is aggravated by movement. Limbs may go numb and pain springs.
- A contusion of the hip joint is manifested by moderate pain. In a static state, these signs disappear. In this case, lameness may also occur.
Traumatic injuries are a common problem and cause quite unpleasant painful sensations. In some cases, even surgery is necessary.
If you feel numbness, it is important to seek help immediately. What the diseased joint looks like can be seen in the photo.
Systemic diseases
With systemic connective tissue disorders, pain may 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 pulls, 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 are severe pains and fever.
- Rheumatoid arthritis forms when connective tissue is damaged. A complication of the disease can be coxarthrosis of the hip joints. At the onset of the disease, swelling and edema appear. When walking, there is a feeling of discomfort and pain gives to the legs.
- During inflammation, the temperature may rise. The development of the disease causes stiffness of movement.
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:
- Viral epiphyseal deformity often occurs in adolescence. The pain has a pulling and dull character. May radiate to inner knee region. After training, the pain syndrome intensifies. The gasket may click.
- Coxarthrosis is a common disease. It takes a long time to treat such a disease. The disease cannot be triggered, as it provokes the formation of destructive and degenerative processes in the joints.
If the joints began to hurt after a long walk, running or climbing stairs, 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 disturbed. In the last stage, the pain occurs even at night. The lameness becomes more pronounced and the 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.
These infectious diseases can cause painful symptoms:
- Purulent arthritis is manifested by high fever, severe swelling, sharp pain and redness of the skin. Not only are some movements difficult, but also getting out of bed. Pains can shoot. In this case, urgent medical assistance is needed.
- Necrosis of the head of the femoral bone occurs with poor blood circulation in this area. This begins the death of tissue cells. Signs of the disease are sharp pain, which is accompanied by a burning sensation and radiates to the groin. An injection of painkillers is often necessary to be able to stand up.
- Tuberculous arthritis often occurs in immunocompromised children. This pathology develops slowly. The child 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 when walking.
Features of pathology diagnosis
First of all, you need to go to the therapist, who will tell you which doctor to go to. The patient is assigned a full diagnosis.
The following procedures apply:
- Ultrasound examination.
- X-ray of the thigh, made in two projections.
- General and biochemical analysis of blood. In this case, the presence of rheumatoid factor is determined with a change in the sedimentation rate of erythrocytes 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, braces are applied to the child, such as spacers, stirrups or a Freik pillow.
These tools keep the baby's legs 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, surgical intervention is prescribed. In this case, the head of the femur is reduced. Even after removing orthopedic aids, the baby needs a light massage that strengthens the muscles.
Traumatic dislocation
If there is such a disease, the doctor prescribes drugs that help eliminate muscle tone and roll back the joint.
It is important to keep the patient calm. If the limbs begin to go numb, this indicates a pinched nerve.
In this case, an examination by a neurologist is necessary.
Hip fracture
In this situation, the treatment is carried out by a traumatologist. Most often, an operation is prescribed. If surgery is not possible, 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:
- Medicines - hormonal, immunosuppressive 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, joint replacement surgery may be prescribed to the patient.
Reiter's disease
To treat this pathology, anti-inflammatories, glucocorticosteroids and drugs that depress the function of the immune system are used.
The treatment will last about 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 sensitive to it than men. This is due to the fact that during pregnancy there is a change in the structure of the bones of the pelvis.
The main symptom of the disease is pain and stiffness when walking.
Treatment with hormonal agents, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cytostatics is used.
Exercises, stretch marks, and topical ointments are particularly effective. Surgical intervention is used in the later stages of the disease, when it is impossible to walk and sit.
At the same time, arthroplasty and joint fixation are recommended. After the operation, there is a decrease in pain symptoms, an improvement in mobility and the prevention of possible complications.
Coxarthrosis
Corxarthrosis is a disease characterized by problems with hyaline cartilage.
This most often occurs in older people. A variety of measures and procedures are used in the treatment. It can be both medication and surgery. First, drug treatment is prescribed, and if it is not effective, 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 must be anesthetized. If the discomfort is severe, injections are used. If the stage is the last, coxarthrosis is not amenable to treatment.
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.
Stent replacement is often used, but this method is not used for the elderly. After the operation, recovery procedures and simple training are necessary, but under the supervision of a doctor.
The load should be minimal.
Treatment of inflammatory and infectious diseases
It is necessary 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 the infection. Abscess removal is also used. In this case, a splint or cast is applied.
- To cure aseptic necrosis of the femoral head, it is necessary to restore blood flow so that the dead zones are restored. It is necessary to anesthetize using NSAIDs. Complexes with vitamins and agents for reducing blood viscosity are actively used. If the thigh begins to hurt, you need to use an anesthetic composition and massage. Therapeutic gymnastics and physiotherapy procedures are also used. If the case is complex, joint arthroplasty and surgical methods are used.
- With bursitis, the joint can hurt badly, so it needs to be anesthetized. In this case, anti-inflammatory compounds and painkillers are used. In case of severe discomfort, steroid agents are relevant.
- Tuberculous arthritis is treated conservatively. Joint mobility is limited by a special tight bandage. When an abscess forms in the soft tissues, it is surgically removed.
Home treatment
Please don't self-medicate. Consult a doctor!
Folk remedies supplement the main treatment, but do not replace it. There are different ways to treat arthritis or osteoarthritis.
It should be borne in mind that all traditional methods only alleviate 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 must be grated, then boiled in warm water. After that, the compress is applied to the affected areas.
- Cabbage processing. This vegetable has long been used to relieve joint and bone pain. A compress can be made from cabbage leaves or juice. The juice can be squeezed with a juicer or from crushed leaves. The cloth 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 made like this. First, the porridge is boiled in a small amount of water, then placed in gauze. The compress is applied to the affected area.
- Grind the eggshell and mix it with kefir. The mixture is wrapped in linen or gauze, then applied to the sore spot.
For arthritis, special solutions and decoctions are prepared for drinking. It is recommended to take apple cider vinegar 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 packet should be taken in a pot of water. Then the decoction should be filtered and drunk before going to bed.
You can be treated using different juices. Beets, carrots and other vegetable juices are particularly effective.
With the correct and timely treatment, you can cope with any disease.
The main thing is not to give up, but to follow all the recommendations of the doctor and, if possible, to do therapeutic exercises.