Effective Chiropractic Treatment for Hip Pain

Our hips play a major role in our ability to smoothly carry out daily activities. These versatile joints bear a lot of our body weight when standing while also allowing for appropriate coordinated movement. Most of us take our hips and their vital function for granted until they start to hurt. When hip pain occurs, this can quickly affect our quality of life.

When looking at the function of the lower trunk, the hips, pelvis, and spine all closely interact with each other. This is why chiropractors are at an advantage for effectively addressing your hip pain and other lower body trunk dysfunctions (i.e. low back pain). Ultimately, they can help restore balance to affected areas to optimize function and reduce the onset of pain. This translates to less suffering and more time doing what you love.

The 4 Primary Hip Pain Types Chiropractic Care Can Help Manage

Any time you are experiencing hip pain, whether you know the cause or not, this is a great time to consider seeking non-invasive holistic care from a local chiropractor. They can help you determine what is causing your hip pain and work with you to create an effective treatment plan. Below are some of the four most common hip issues that can be addressed with chiropractic care.

#1. Traumatic Injury

There are several reasons your hip might sustain a high impact injury. These include a sudden fall, sports injury, or the impact from a motor vehicle accident. Unfortunately, these types of injuries are hard to predict and can happen out of nowhere. You might sustain a fracture, sprain, muscle tear, or just feel stiff and “off” following this type of injury.

Particularly with a car accident, you may try to brush off your symptoms and wait for them to go away on their own. However, doing so can lead to long term consequences. This is because the impact to the hips and other parts of the body, particularly the spine, can lead to subtle underlying imbalances that slowly degrade your health and function. It’s always better to seek immediate care and restore as much balance as possible.

#2. Sciatica

This common pain complaint is a perfect example of how the spine and hip closely interact with each other. The sciatic nerve is a large neural branch that exits from the low back and descends along the glute muscles and back of the legs (along the hamstring and beyond). Sciatica is referred to as inflammation of this neural pathway that most often results in symptoms of low back pain and/or shooting pain into the butt and/or down the legs. It can also cause leg weakness and discoordination as well. It is most often caused by spine degeneration, poor posture awareness, deconditioning/obesity, and general inflammation.

Chiropractic care is an excellent way to reduce the inflammatory effects of sciatica and therefore reduce your pain. This is done with posture training, spine adjustments, and more. With the right treatment in place, you can hopefully ditch that shooting pain in the butt (literally) that no one likes to experience.

#3. Hip Arthritis

There are two primary types of hip arthritis: Osteoarthritis (OA) caused by gradual wear and tear with injury or aging, and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) resulting from an overactive immune system and widespread inflammation. While the underlying mechanisms and treatment might vary slightly, the general symptoms are similar. These include loss of hip mobility, weakness, pain, and general dysfunction. Unfortunately, the cartilage damage associated with hip arthritis isn’t curable. However, conservative treatment with chiropractic care can help minimize long term effects and preserve your remaining joint health for as long as possible- boosting your overall quality of life.

Additionally, there are other types of inflammation in the body that can affect the hips (both local and systemic in nature). These include, but are not limited to, hip bursitis (inflammation of fluid filled cushions that help the hip tendons move smoothly), irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, and more. Since better managing inflammation is a major potential benefit of chiropractic care, seeking appropriate treatment can be a huge part of pain reduction and recovery.

#4. Overuse of the Hip

Oftentimes, an injury begins subtly and gradually gets worse over time with repetition of a certain move. This is especially true when a joint like the hip is involved. If possible, it’s best to address hip problems as soon as they arise to prevent unnecessary long term complications. Or even seek chiropractic care before you have an issue to catch any problems as they crop up with regular full body assessments. However, no matter how severe your symptoms are it’s never too late to seek care. Your chiropractor can help restore hip function via hip mobility, strength, nerve integrity, and more.

Getting the Right Care for Your Hip Pain

The four common hip pain complaints we just reviewed are all great reasons to seek chiropractic care. The sooner you can get treatment the better so that you can get back to living life on your own terms with less hip pain. The team at North Alabama Spine and Rehab in Huntsville and Decatur, AL is dedicated to holistically treating your pain complaints of the hip and beyond. Get in touch with their clinic to schedule an appointment today and see how you can take control of your hip pain.