What Is Hip Bursitis – Symptoms & Diagnosis

Do you have pain on the outside of your hip? And have you been told that you have a hip bursitis In this video, I’ll be explaining what hip bursitis is, what the symptoms are, how to find it on yourself, and what treatment options there are for your hip bursitis problem. I won’t be covering hip bursitis exercises in this video, but I’ve linked a video where I teach you hip bursitis exercises in the description below.

My name is Dr. David Middaugh. I’m a specialist physical therapist at El Paso manual physical therapy. And we help people stay healthy, active and mobile while avoiding unnecessary surgeries injections and medic medications. This channel is completely dedicated to that. So please subscribe and turn on your notifications so that you don’t miss any of the helpful videos we upload every single week.

So let’s get into it hip bursitis what is it, I’ve got a drawing here to help us explain it. So let me just show you here. This is the pelvis or the hip bones another word for it. Here’s the low back vertebrae the spine just to orient you. And right out here’s the ball and socket joint to the hip. When we’re talking about hip bursitis, it’s pain on the outside of the hip on the outermost part of the hip.

So out here in purple, I’ve labeled the greater trochanteric Bursa. And they’re drawn right here. One is they’re all within the muscles, but one’s deeper, and one is more superficial. There’s actually several persa in your hip. But these are the most commonly ones. These are the most common ones associated with hip bursitis problems. What happens here, the reason why these things get inflamed because it just means inflammation.

So bursitis is inflammation of the bursa of these little fluid filled sacs, these fluid filled sacs take too much pressure, more pressure than they’re designed to take. And as a result of that they become inflamed. Now we have to ask the question, why are they taking too much pressure? Aren’t they designed do that? Are they supposed to do that?

And technically, Yes, they are. But if you’ve got muscle imbalances, or you’re doing some repetitive motion, or you’re doing too much too soon, you’ve started some exercise routine, or you’re doing some work in the house or outside the house that you haven’t been doing in a long time, that could add way too much pressure to your Bursa, then they’re supposed to be taking at that time, tissues adapt.

And as you gradually work up your exercise levels are your activity levels, those Bursa will be able to take the activity that you’re doing. somebody that’s running marathons, obviously has Versa in their hip, that are much better able to take that the running that they’re doing than somebody who doesn’t run marathons.

The whole point of the bursa. They’re their little fluid filled sacs that just separate the muscles a bit to allow the muscles to move independently of each other without producing a bunch of friction between the two.

So they act as friction absorbers, they reduce friction and allow more free movement within the muscles and other tissues. Inside the hip joints. Typically, with hip bursitis problems, the muscles on the front side of the hip versus the back side of the hip are stronger, these tend to get stronger than these back here, the buttock muscles. So as a result of that there’s excessive pressure on those bursts that are kind of superficial.

They’re right out here on the outside of the hip. And that’s what causes them to get irritated. Oftentimes, there’s other things that get irritated too. And hip verses are just one thing that can get irritated. It’s really just a matter of the weakest link in the chain.

For some people, they get tight hip muscles, some people get it band syndrome, some people get hip arthritis problems or other joint related problems inside the ball and socket joint at the hip. And then some people get hip bursitis.

Let me talk to you about the signs and symptoms of hip bursitis. So that you can see if this is what you’re dealing with right now or not true hip bursitis tends to be pain right on the outermost side of the hip. So if you put your hand on the the widest part of your hip right out here, that’s where it typically is tender.

People can typically poke a spot and say, Yep, that’s it. That’s where it hurts right there. This tends to happen more in women than men, because women tend to have wider hips. It does happen in men. However, like I said, it’s just a matter of the weakest link in the chain of tissues and muscles, joints, ligaments, all that, that depends on what hurts first, we do see that a vast majority of people that come in with hip bursitis are women.

Oftentimes, their stiffness in the hip joint especially this has been going on for a while, and the muscles in the front of the hip and the front of the thigh. All this right here tends to get kind of stiff, and sometimes achy. Many times there’s back pain associated with this. It typically isn’t as bad as the hip bursitis itself.

But if people tune in and think about it, they have had a history of back pain, or it’s been becoming worse as the hip pain has gotten worse. Hip bursitis almost always gets worse with more activities. The longer that somebody is on their feet, the more walking they do if they start to exercise, especially using their legs, like any sort of cardio exercise, it tends to aggravate the hip bursitis.

And maybe not in the exercise during the moment, but afterwards, and the hours after in the days after is when it tends to get really bad there. If it’s really bad, if the hip bursitis is very sensitive, it’s very sensitized, as we say, then it can hurt to start exercising during exercise as well. So what are the treatment options for hip bursitis?

Well, number one doctors out there will tell you to rest it to basically stop exercising or stop doing those activities that have made it worse. And that’s a good solution so that you can avoid taking pain medications, and it will tend to flare down, the less active you are.

But it’s not a good long term solution, because eventually you’ve got to get back to exercising and doing the things that you were doing before around the house so that you can get work done and get your take care of your home and your daily activities.

Doctors will also recommend over the counter pain medications, and some may even prescribe you prescription medications. Oftentimes, it’ll be an anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen or naproxen. And sometimes they’ll give you steroid medications to help with the inflammation. those medications often help the situation.

But just temporarily, once the effects of the medication were off, the pain tends to come right back. more aggressive treatment for hip bursitis is definitely injections, those are frequently done for really bad cases of hip bursitis. So we’ll take cortisone in a needle and put it directly into the hip Bursa with the hopes that it can relieve the pain and the inflammation.

The problem is if you still have that muscle imbalance within your hip muscles, then it’s just a matter of time before that hip bursitis comes back, especially after the pain medication wears off. injections typically lasts a month to three months, if it’s done correctly. And in some cases, people just did a week or two of relief very rarely, in extreme situations, surgery is done for hip bursitis problems, they’ll do a burst secta me which is where they take out the bursa.

And the problem is it tends to grow back and it tends to get aggravated. Again, the reason why this surgery is so rare is because it’s quite unsuccessful. But I think the best news about hip bursitis is that it can be 100% treated and naturally you can recover from hip bursitis about 100% of the time.

Now be aware that if this is left untreated, if you never recover from it, it’s an ongoing recurring thing. You’re setting yourself up for more serious problems like hip arthritis, hip labrum tears, knee issues and even back issues that involve arthritis disc issues, meniscus tears, all the bad stuff that has longer lasting effects. So it is prudent of you to take care of this hip bursitis problem before it becomes something worse.

If you think that we might be the right people to help you solve your hip bursitis problem naturally without injections, medications and surgery, then I invite you to apply for one of our complimentary discovery visits. All you got to do to learn more about that is scroll down to the bottom of this page and find the button that says request a discovery visit.

What a discovery visit is it’s a 20-minute appointment with a specialist physical therapist will listen to your story want to hear about how it began and what it’s like today. And then we’ll check you out in person by hand, we have the option to do this over the internet as well through a video call. And we’ll hear the story from you and watch you move through video.

And once we’ve done that, we’re going to give you a diagnosis to let you know if it truly is hip bursitis or if it’s hip bursitis and something else that you’re dealing with so that we can form a plan for your recovery.

Without surgeries, injections and medications, you’ll get a chance to ask all the questions that you want about the problem. And our goal for you is for you to walk out of here feeling like you know everything that you need to know about your hip problems so that you can make the next best decision for your hip.

So just scroll down and find that discovery visit button. Click on it. Leave us your details. And once you submit that my staff will call you right back with the next steps on applying for that discovery visit. I hope you have a wonderful day and I hope that we can be a part of your success story real soon.