Hip Pain

The diagnosis of hip pain is difficult as many structures can refer pain around to the hip area.

A Chartered Physiotherapist will give you a skilled assessment of your back, hip and pelvis for your hip pain and a treatment plan to help you.

Pain in the hip can be caused by many conditions including lumbar disc lesions, lumbar joint problems, sacro-iliac joint problems, trochanteric bursitis, muscle strains, sports injuries, hernias and osteoarthritis.

A hip injury may be less common than other joint injuries in sports and general activities but can often be under-diagnosed. The hip is a strong, deep and stable joint and disruption of the hip itself and its ligaments is uncommon. However, labral tears (tears of the cartilaginous rim around the joint), tendon and muscle strains are common and can become chronic. Understanding the hip structure is a useful basis for understanding the various kinds of hip injuries.

It is important to get an accurate diagnosis of your hip injury from a Chartered Physiotherapist or specialist hip surgeon as the source of hip pain can be referred from the lumbar spine, the sacro-iliac joint, buttock problems and true hip problems. Groin strains in sportsmen may often be mis-diagnosed and may actually be labral tears of the hip joint.

A Total Hip Replacement is now the treatment of choice for arthritic conditions of the hip if key hole surgery is not appropriate. Your Physio will explain which is more likely and why. It has matured into an established, well accepted medical intervention with excellent and predictable results.

The benefits of total hip replacement are pain relief, undisturbed sleep, functional range of motion of the joint and painless weight bearing on your hip when walking.

Osteoarthritis is the main condition for which hip replacement is considered, with rheumatoid arthritis also important. The arthritic surfaces of the joint are replaced by metal components.

Total hip replacement produces some of the largest improvements in quality of life of all medical treatments. Hips were the first of the major joints to be replaced regularly and reliably and many people have had more than twenty years good service from their new hip. The following total hip replacement resources will answer many of your questions:

As our populations age, more and more people will need access to hip replacement technology and research continues into more advanced and less invasive joint replacement techniques.

Total hip replacement is performed by highly skilled and specialist surgeons in major hospital units. To get a hip replacement you need to be referred by your GP to a private or HSE consultant orthopaedic hip specialist.

After your hip replacement you will need physiotherapy to regain muscle strength and normal gait.