...and what you can do in this case
Pain located on the outside of the hip joint - which can also spread to the outside of the leg, is a fairly common condition that sends people limping into the physiotherapist's office for treatment.
Pain in this region, the outer or lateral aspect of the hip joint, is common enough that studies estimate that 1 in 4 to 10 people may develop this problem at some point.
In the past, pain and a feeling of tension in the lateral hip area was often diagnosed as bursitis - or more specifically, "trochanteric bursitis". However, we now know that it is rare to have a trochanteric bursa swelling where the symptoms are associated with a complaint of pain in the lateral aspect of the hip, but more often it is a problem in the tendons of the muscles that localize in this area.
To give you an idea of where the muscles are located and what are the places that they grab on to, we will give you some brief information about the anatomy of the hip area.
The hip joint is the one that connects the pelvis to the femur. The gluteal muscles are divided into 3 different muscles ( large, medium and small gluteal muscles) each of which has an important function providing movement in the joint as well as stabilization of the pelvis during motor activity.
We mention the gluteal muscles because their location overlaps with the area of pain we are talking about in this article. The end point that the muscles trap for is a bony landmark called the greater trochanter (eminence). This bony eminence is located on the lateral (outside) side of the femur.
Tendons are made of tough connective tissue and make the connection between muscle and bone. When the tendon of the gluteal muscle is damaged or injured, it can cause pain in the outer side of the thigh. In these cases, gluteal tendinopathy is spoken of. This is also one of the most common causes of pain in the lateral aspect of the thigh.
Normally, in a healthy tendon, there is a balance between tissue breakdown and tearing and tissue healing. Complaints and problems begin when the tearing predominates over the healing processes and in these cases the so-called condition tendinopathy develops. A frequent cause of this imbalance between the processes of degeneration and regeneration of tendon tissues is a significant load that is higher than normal for each person, e.g. increased mileage in running, hiking with large climbs, etc.
Of course, this does not happen from once. However, if there is not an adequate and gradual approach to loading and not enough time is allowed for the body to recover and adapt to the load, the tissues become stressed and this can lead to injury.
Another contributing factor is the perpendicular load that passes through the joint and causes compression. Examples of compressive loading are lying on the affected side, crossing the legs, standing up straight with weight transferred to one leg.
The combination of compressive and high-intensity loading is most injurious to tendon tissues. These loads together with increased activity may be too much for the tendon and the result is hip pain.
The most common symptom is pain in the affected lateral thigh area. The pain can be quite sharp and can also spread down the leg and can sometimes reach below the knee.
If you have pain in the lateral hip area, you can help yourself by not crossing your legs while sitting, standing equally on both feet, avoiding sleeping on the painful hip. Do not stretch the thigh muscles, but try to relax the gluteal muscles. You can achieve the latter by using a tennis ball for a gentle self-massage to relax the musculature.
