Hip bursitis can be a frustrating and limiting injury for active adults in Durham, NC who want to continue running, lifting weights and being active. Common symptoms include pain in the outside of the hip with activity or with laying on that side. Pain may be sharp with certain movements or a constant dull ache throughout the day. The joint may also feel stiff and movements like squatting down or sitting cross legged can become uncomfortable. While bursitis can be painful and limiting the good news is that physical therapy is an effective treatment and invasive procedures and surgery are usually not needed, especially when treated early on. In this blog, we’ll outline what hip bursitis is, at home treatments and how physical therapy can help you.
What is Hip Bursitis?
The medical definition of bursitis is Inflammation of the bursa (fluid-filled sac that reduces friction in joints). The most common types of bursitis in the hip is trochanterier bursitis – which is when the bursa on the outside of thigh becomes inflamed and irritated. Less common is ischial bursitis, which is inflammation of the bursa on your sits bones (or ischial tuberosities). Since trochanteric bursitis is the most common, that is what we will focus on for this blog post.
Causes of Bursitis
The most common cause of bursitis is overuse and repetitive movements, such as running, hiking or squatting, especially when combined with movement compensation patterns or muscle weakness. Compensation patterns can be a result of past trauma or injury or from small repetitive movements over time. For example, a person who suddenly increases their running milage may start to experience bursitis due to the glute muscles being unable to tolerate the sudden, increased load. They may have also had a previous ankle sprain, which caused movement inefficiencies and at lower. milage they are able to tolerate the compensations, but as the milage and demand increases they are unable to cope.
Who is at Risk for Hip Bursitis?
Anyone can develop bursitis, but those especially who do repetitive movements like running and cycling are a higher risk. Sedentary individuals who begin an exercise program may also be at risk, especially if they do not gradually increase their activity level and intensity.
How Physical Therapy Helps Hip Bursitis
Physical therapy in Durham, NC is a key treatment for hip bursitis. A knowledgeable physical therapist will help you identify the root cause of your pain in addition to helping calm down your symptoms. Taking a root cause approach is imperative in order to find long term relief.
During your first visit, your physical therapist will have you perform various movements, flexibility assessments and strength tests in order to identify the root cause. From there, hands on techniques such as dry needling and cupping may be used to decrease your pain, in addition to creating a custom home program for you to work on. This home program will be a combination of symptom management and exercises to target the root cause.
Common Physical Therapy Techniques for Hip Bursitis
- Manual therapy: This includes soft tissue mobilization to reduce tension and inflammation and may include massage, myofascial release and cupping
- Dry needling: Dry needling can be extremely effective in calming down your pain and eliminating trigger points.
- Stretching and flexibility exercises: If your pain is due to a lack of mobility, targeted stretches and mobility exercises will help to improve your overall flexibility and decrease movement compensation patterns.
- Strength training: Targeting glutes, core, hamstrings, quads and even the rib cage will help allow the muscles that stability and control your pelvis to work together.
- Education on proper load management and avoiding aggravating movements: While we never like to tell someone they can’t do something, sometimes removing the aggravating activity in the short term is needed in order to decrease the irritation. Once pain is calmed down a PT can help you gradually increase your volume and intensity of exercise so the pain doesn’t return.
Home Exercises to Complement Physical Therapy
Glute massage with lacrosse ball
Try this for 60-90s, once per day.
Single leg bridge
Start with 10-12 reps on each leg, for 2 sets
hip 90/90s
When to Seek Physical Therapy
The sooner the better. The earlier you can have a professional identify any movement limitations or compensation patterns, the sooner they can be corrected. While rest can help calm down the pain, typically once the activity is resumed, unless movement corrections have been made, the pain will return. Taking a proactive approach will help. keep the pain from getting to unmanageable levels and allow you to find relief quickly.
Conclusion
Overall, seeking physical therapy in Durham for hip bursitis is an effective way to manage pain and treat the root cause of the pain. Physical therapy can help the pain resolve quicker than just rest alone and ensure that as you return to your workouts the pain does not come back. Seeking treatment from a clinic that takes a whole body, root cause and performance based approach will also help to ensure you receive a tailored program, specific to your goals.
If you are looking for physical therapy for hip pain or bursitis, contact us today to learn more about pricing and availability and get started on your journey to being hip pain free.
