At best, hip pain is a nuisance that makes everyday activities harder and requires you to slow down or move much more carefully than usual. At worst, it can completely disrupt your lifestyle and make it difficult to get out of bed.
Fortunately, for many hip conditions, there are non-surgical treatment options to help you relieve pain and regain normal function both now and in the future through physical therapy.
What causes hip pain that comes and goes?
Finding the cause of your hip pain is a crucial step that will determine the best way to treat it. As you experience the pain, take note of how your hip feels by asking yourself questions like:
- Does it come and go with certain activities?
- Do you feel pain differently during different types of weather or during different times of the year?
- How long does the pain last?
Of course, you’ll discuss all this and more during an evaluation with a physical therapist, which is part of what makes a personal treatment plan so effective, since it takes all of your symptoms and your overall health condition into account.
On your own, you can identify and avoid the triggers that cause or worsen your hip pain symptoms, which can work for a while but may cause a large disruption in your lifestyle depending on what does and doesn’t hurt to do. And because your hip is involved in nearly every daily activity both in and outside the home, this is often the case. It’s also why seeing a specialist sooner rather than later results in less disruption to your life overall.
Sharp, stabbing hip pain
Sharp pain is different than dull aches or general discomfort and usually points to a specific cause in the hip or the surrounding parts of the body. As you’re researching causes of hip pain, ask yourself where the pain is located, whether deep in the hip, at the front, near the lower back, down the leg, or somewhere else.
Causes of sharp hip pain vary widely and can include:
- Osteoarthritis
- Hip injuries, including hip labral tears or dislocation
- Hip impingement
- Repetitive strain injury
- Inflammation (bursitis)
These issues result in slightly different sensations for different people, and some of them can affect very specific areas of the hip or be more widespread. This is another reason why a personal evaluation is valuable to diagnosing the extent of the underlying cause of your hip pain and finding an effective way to treat it.
Treatment options for sudden, sharp hip pain
No matter if you injured your hip doing something specific or are starting to feel the first symptoms of chronic joint wear and tear, our physical therapists have options to help you reduce or eliminate your sharp hip pain.
Our treatment plan typically involves a thorough diagnostic evaluation, sometimes including imaging technology to see deep into the hip joint, as well as a variety of treatment protocols that we’ll customize for your condition, including:
- Manual physical therapy
- Active rest and healing strategies
- Neuromuscular training
For people who find it difficult to leave home, we may be able to offer virtual or at-home treatments in some situations to make sure you get the care you need without risking more harm to your hip injury or putting you in too much pain.
Sharp hip pain treatments throughout Maine
If you’re in sudden hip pain, whether it happened a while ago or got unbearably worse recently, don’t wait to seek help from a physical therapist. No one wants to rely on medication just to get through the pain they have on a daily basis or limit activities due to fear of triggering symptoms, which is why we’re here to help. Call one of our clinics that’s close to you or request your appointment online to get started on a path of healing and recovery from hip pain.
