Hip pain is usually felt in your groin area, but it may also be felt in your upper thigh or buttocks. If your pain is limiting your daily activities, it’s time to get help.
We’ll identify the source of your hip pain through a physical examination and imaging tests. Often, conservative treatments such as over-the-counter painkillers, anti-inflammatory injections and physical therapy are enough to ease your discomfort.
Diagnosis
Hip pain can be a symptom of many conditions that require medical attention. When the pain becomes too much and climbing stairs, sitting down from a chair, and walking become difficult, it is important to seek out medical care. Trying to power through or ignore hip pain only compounds the injury and may lead to a more serious condition that requires surgery.
Orthopedic specialists are experts in diagnosing the cause of hip pain through a physical exam and diagnostic or lab tests. For example, they can order X-rays and MRIs to collect more information about the hip joint. Hip surgeons can also use hip arthroscopy to see the inside of your hip and treat any damaged tissue directly.
Hip pain may indicate that the femur bone or pelvic socket are not functioning properly. Surgical treatment options include replacing the hip joint, or a less invasive procedure known as hip resurfacing, which replaces only the head of the femur and the socket surface.
Treatment
The hip joint, located between the pelvic bone and femur, is a complex configuration of bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons. Hip conditions affect this area of the body in a variety of ways, impacting mobility and causing pain.
Nonsurgical treatment options are available for most hip conditions. These include over-the-counter painkillers such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen, as well as other analgesics and anti-inflammatories to ease pain and reduce inflammation.
Injections can also provide relief for some patients. These may be corticosteroids to reduce inflammation or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections that use the patient’s own blood to promote healing.
Chronic hip pain can be debilitating, impacting work and leisure activities and reducing overall quality of life. If you are struggling with hip pain that is limiting your movement and interfering with sleep, schedule an appointment with Dr. Vlad Gendelman to discuss your options for addressing it. He is an expert in hip preservation and strives to provide the least invasive, surgical-only treatment when possible for his patients.
Surgery
If you are struggling with hip pain from a musculoskeletal condition or injury, it can keep you from enjoying your favorite activities. LifesSpan Medicine’s hip relief doctors can help you rediscover your mobility through a mix of conservative joint treatments and surgery for severe cases.
Hip pain is a common problem caused by arthritis and traumatic injuries. It may cause the cartilage in your hip to break down and your bones to rub together, leading to severe pain.
Our experts can perform minimally invasive surgery, including hip arthroscopy, to treat these conditions and injuries. This approach uses smaller incisions and results in a faster recovery time than traditional open surgery.
Our doctors can also provide PRP injections to promote healing and reduce inflammation of the hip joints. This treatment draws on the power of your own blood platelets to speed up the healing process and draw regenerative stem cells to the injured area. This therapy can help reduce your hip pain and improve your quality of life.
Second Opinion
If you have already undergone hip, knee or shoulder replacement surgery and are not happy with your results, getting a second opinion is appropriate and a good idea. Having your history, exam and X-rays reviewed by a surgeon who did not perform the original procedure can reconfirm the diagnosis or offer new insights and direction.
He has extensive experience in both complex spinal surgeries and revisions and is also a leader in the anterior (muscle sparing) approach to total hip replacement. This approach is less invasive, speeds recovery and does not require the muscles to be stretched to access the hip joint.
He is the first orthopedic surgeon in the Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and San Fernando Valley to specialize in pelvic and acetabulum fractures. He regularly treats patients transferred from other hospitals in these areas and is a consultant to many local orthopedic trauma surgeons. He is a graduate of the top 5% of his class at Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed a residency at Tampa General Hospital.