My hip is normally a little tetchy, but it has flared up real good, and has been swollen and very sore for a week now. The doctor said it is likely either bursitis or arthritis (the x-ray of my hip should be in sometime next week, so he’ll be able to see if there is any degeneration). I’m 38 years old, by the way. The doctor has me started on anti-inflammatory drugs (Arthrotek75 mg twice a day), I put a cold compress on a couple times a day, I’m trying to stay off of it, and I bought myself a cane.
So, what can I expect of this? Am I ever going to walk normally again, or should I get used to my leetle friend, the stupid cane? Is there a reason for this? Is there anything more I can do for it? What are your experiences with a bad hip?
I’m not a doctor, except for a bullshit honorary DD, nor am I a physical therapist.
When I had hip bursitis, my doc sent me to phys therapy. They told me the muscles surrounding (and bearing on) the bursa were too tight and short. So, they taught me:
The hamstring stretch. Lie on your back and bring your leg up to vertical, or as close as you can without pain.
The front part stretch. Do a lunge (one leg bent in front, the other leg straight behind you.) While in the lunge, thrust the bottom of your pelvis forward.
The side part stretch. With a wall at your right, put your right foot about 3 or 4 feet from the wall. Keeping your trunk vertical, move toward the wall, crossing your left leg, bent, over the right, straight. This will cause a stretch along the outside of your hip joint
Do each stretch on each side 15 times, twice a day.
After a few weeks, I got bored, but my bursitis went away.
I feel your pain. I’ve been diagnosed with arthritis (two doctors) and tendinitis (one doctor) in my right hip. It hurts like a bastard.
Anti-inflammatories really helped me. Changing office chairs helped, too. I’ll get to where I can’t straighten my leg at all if I sit in the wrong chair for more than five minutes.
I don’t really have any advice, though I can say that all of the inflammatory type pains tend to flare and recede. So don’t count yourself out yet!
My best friend has bursitis in her hip, and she has stretches that she does every day. She also gets a deep massage twice a week that she won’t miss for anything- they really seem to help her.
Stretches - I never thought of that. My upper leg (not quite the hip) feels extremely tight - you guys might be onto something here. I have also planned to try accupuncture once I get the diagnosis from the doctor. I walk an awful lot - could that be aggravating a chronic condition like bursitis?
Stretches can be great for bursitis - your doctor (in theory) should be able to recommend some to you that will be effective (or refer you to a physical therapist who can do so).
Massage I’ve found helpful for arthritis and I hear good things about it as a treatment for bursitis as well.
Arthritis you’re probably in for the long haul. Arthritis is a permanent condition. It’ll flare up and die down at intervals (for various reasons) for the rest of your life.
Bursitis may or may not recur. I had bursitis of the shoulder when I was quite young (like 13) and I haven’t had a recurrence in the last 17 years.
I’ve had two surgeries on my right hip, and as a result, have the beginning stages of arthritis since some of the tissue surrounding my hip didn’t heal properly. The pain was really bad a few years ago, so I decided to take up swimming again. It made a world of difference and I no longer need to take anti-inflammatory meds. If you have a pool nearby and you’re comfortable swimming, I recommend trying it out or taking some sort of water exercise class. It’s amazing how swimming or water exercise keeps the joints loose and muscles stretched without any impact.
I just recently (about a week ago) got diagnosed with hip bursitis. My doctor offered me either physical therapy or a cortisone shot (as I already take ibuprofen daily.) I took the cortisone shot since I have a SF/Fantasy convention coming up this weekend & I’ll be walking a lot.
It’s still stiff & painful, though, so I might see about getting some PT after the convention. I do have minimal arthritis in the same hip, but it’s not usually an issue.
I do better after walking around a little, but if I walk too much it gets fatigued & painful. Not much of a middle ground, really.
I do have a pool nearby - must look into aquacize classes. I like to swim, but I’m not very good at it, so I tend to not do it.
So, can I start with the stretching, massage and exercising while my hip is still in a fairly painful, flared-up condition, or should I wait until it gets better?
I’ve got something in my left hip, never really had it looked at, but it hurts like a son of a gun sometimes. The one time in fairly recent memory where I had NO hip pain was when I was doing lots of bike riding.
I’m not very active these days, and that’s probably why I hurt so much. Stupid laziness.
I’ve been quite active lately - walking at least an hour a day most days, and then digging in my yard on top of that. That’s what pisses me off - you’re supposed to get healthy and strong from exercising, not sore and unable to walk properly.
Assuming you have the same conditions I had, start stretching right away. If you don’t, your muscles will never ease the pressure on your aching bursa. Be patient, it will take some time. I used to grumble at my PT, saying, “I’ll thank you when it doesn’t hurt every day.” I finally thanked her.
Unfortunately, there’s so much flesh around the hip joint that ice won’t help much. Keep taking your anti-inflammatories.
I had degenerative arthritis in both hips.
Both were bone on bone before having them both replaced. The surgeon told my wife that the pain I was feeling was like walking with a broken leg.
Left hip in 2K.
Right hip in 04.
Feel pretty good now.
Lost a lot of muscle strength from not using them.
I don’t have the mobility like with my natural hips so I have to be careful not to get into a situation where I would twist them. A bad twist will put me down a couple of days.
All in all I feel pretty good.
My grandparents always said that exercise is the best thing.
Although I was always pretty active I wish I had paid more attention to what they were telling me.
OTC Arthritis Strength Tylenol is my med of chioce.
When I was about 22, I started getting out-of-the-blue pains that felt like someone driving a sharp spike from my right shoulder, through my body, down to my right knee. Honestly, for a week or two I couldn’t even say where the pain was coming from, it was referring so badly. Turns out it was bursitis.
I suspect it was due to sudden weight gain. Perhaps stress exacerbated it, I don’t know if that’s possible.
Anyway, PT is a gift of the gods! They gave me both stretches and strengthening exercises (to support the joint), and something no one has mentioned yet - ultrasound therapy. I gather this is like putting a heating pad right on the bursa sac. Once I was done with a course of PT, I felt totally normal and have not had another instance in ten years.
(PT also worked great on a sacro-iliac injury I had. After being skeptical at first, I am a real PT believer now!)
I hope you have my experience and never have to deal with this again!
I’m sorry to kind of resurrect this thread (although it’s not that old, really), but I have a question for my fellow sufferers.
When my PCP diagnosed my hip bursitis, she did a range-of-movement test to determine that it wasn’t arthritis. She also gave me a cortisone shot that day (which I may have mentioned in my earlier post.)
This week I’m still having stiffness (which is to be expected) but I’m also having SHARP pains on the INSIDE of my hip (near the groin area). Does anyone know if this is related to the bursitis or have had this themselves?
BTW, I’m not asking for medical ADVICE…I already have an appointment scheduled next Monday for physical therapy since I’m still having problems. I just want to know if this also has been a symptom for others.
