Posts Tagged ‘hip pain’
Does hip pain keep you up at night and make it hard to get a good night’s rest? When you get out of bed in the morning, or when you get out of your car, are you stiff and do you find it initially difficult to move your legs? Do you feel pain in one or both hips whenever you rotate or twist them or when you cross your legs? If you answered “yes” to any or all of the previous questions you are likely suffering from imbalances and alignment problems in your lower extremities that, in addition to causing hip pain, can in the course of time produce degenerative hip joint disease if not taken care of.
Though hip pain and related problems can frequently be traced to age-related degenerative conditions, particularly osteoarthritis of the hip joint, osteoarthritis isn’t always the perpetrator. In fact, rather than being the original cause of the problem, osteoarthritis of the hip joint can be the end result of injury to your hips earlier.
Damage as the result of biomechanical issues, such as an ankle sprain or knee strain, can generate changes in your gait that create hip pain. Also, if you change jobs, alter the way you sit, take on a new sport or activity, or start driving for long periods of a regular basis, your gait may alter to compensate for these new changes.
In addition, gait asymmetries can be caused by carrying a baby or small child on your hip, leg length discrepancies, or foot pronation challenges. In other words, anything that generates an asymmetry or imbalance when you are in motion can develop into painful hip problems.
As part of the chiropractic management of your hip problem, along with adjustments, your chiropractor may prescribe orthotics. Your chiropractor will also offer applicable progressive rehabilitative exercises that include muscle stretching and strengthening.
Hip pain won’t diminish on its own. Hip pain is a signal that something needs correcting. Your chiropractor can help to get you out of pain, get back into balance, and get your life back!