Try Physical Therapy Before Getting Your Next Hip Injection

What is hip bursitis?

The trochanteric bursa is a sack filled with fluid designed to protect soft tissue from rubbing against a bone and causing damage.  Trochanteric bursitis occurs when the sack becomes inflamed from excess compression.  If you have pain on the outside of your hip, you likely have greater trochanteric hip bursitis.  

How does bursitis occur?

The most likely cause of hip bursitis is a muscle imbalance that causes IT band tightness and compression of the bursa.   Weakness of the hip or core muscles causes excessive pelvic motion with activity and tightening of the IT band.  This can lead to altered motion of the thigh bone (femur) or the pelvis, which changes the mechanics of our movement.   Strengthening the hip and core and stretching the IT band will improve stability and decrease the stress placed on the bursa, which will decrease pain.

How do you treat hip bursitis?

Doctors will give you a cortisone injection to decrease the inflammation surrounding the bursa to calm down the pain.  But this only relieves the inflammation temporarily.  If you don’t find the cause of the problem and fix it, the swelling or inflammation will return, as will the pain.  Multiple cortisone injections in the same body part can weaken the soft tissue in the area and can lead to further damage.

A physical therapist can assess you to determine specifically where you are tight or weak and prescribe an exercise program designed for your needs to improve your mechanics.  A proper exercise program should improve your strength and mobility and decrease your pain to eliminate the need for repeated cortisone injections.  To be able to return to the activities you love, you need to fix the problem and change your mechanics to eliminate the cause of your pain.

Call today to schedule your physical therapy evaluation to get rid of your hip pain. 303-900-2282.