Hip problems are a common complaint that affects all ages and activity levels. Many hip problems are often the result of an overuse injury and can interfere with our daily activities that can make dressing, shaving our legs and standing while cooking challenging.
Three common hip problems are:
- Osteoarthritis. This happens when the cartilage in your hip joint becomes damaged from wear and tear over the years. Osteoarthritis can cause pain, stiffness and tenderness within the joint, which often makes walking and using stairs difficult.
- Bursitis. This is the inflammation of the bursa around your joint. A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that protects the bones in the joint by acting like a cushion. Bursa can become inflamed from overuse. This can result in having pain with movements and limited range of motion within the hip.
- Tendinitis. This is the inflammation of a muscle tendon. Performing strenuous and/or repetitive activities and movements can cause the tendons in our hips to become inflamed causing pain and discomfort with simple activities.
A common overuse injury in the hip that we see is IT band syndrome. This is a form of tendinitis that affects the IT band. Contrary to many beliefs, the IT band is the long tendon, not a bone or muscle, which spans the length of your thigh attaching at your greater trochanter (outside point of the hip) of your hip, down to the head of your fibula (calf bone) below the knee. It is important to get all hip related issues addressed as soon as possible to get you back to walking up and down the stairs and doing your laundry without further delay from additional structural damage.
So why does your IT band get tight or feel painful?
- Repetitive/Overuse movements. With repetitive movements such as running, the IT band can rub against the bones in your knee and hip causing irritation. This typically results in inflammation causing pain with movement of your hip and/or knee.
- Poor flexibility. The IT band can also lack flexibility causing increased tension. This makes it difficult for your joints and muscles to function and move as they should. This, in turn effects your body mechanics.
- Poor body mechanics. Having poor body mechanics alters the way your muscles and joints are working and can place increased loads or amounts of stress on tendons and joints that aren’t used to carrying that load. This can make some tissues tighter and unable to function as they should, resulting in pain and lack of range of motion.
CALL Loudoun Sports Therapy Center TODAY at 703-450-4300 to get your individual treatment plan specific to your goals.
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