What Can Cause Hip Pain in a Woman

Hip pain is common, affecting everyone from grandparents to recent college graduates. However, it can be challenging to determine why you are in pain. Though both men and women frequently experience sudden hip pain, the causes can vary. It could be a minor annoyance or something that interferes with day-to-day activities. So, what can cause hip pain in a woman? According to orthopedics, Muscle damage, osteoarthritis, and issues with the pelvic floor are a few potential causes. It may also happen while pregnant.

This blog will detail the possible causes of hip pain in a woman.

Women and hip pain – 

Do you have hip pain? Women are more likely than men to experience this type of chronic pain. But rather, hip pain can have a variety of causes, and figuring out the right one is essential to getting the best care.

You suffer both physically and mentally when you have continuous hip pain. The discomfort, which can spread to your lower back, buttocks, and leg, interferes with your ability to exercise, work, and even carry out simple tasks like walking upstairs and getting in and out of a car.

When attempting to determine the reason for hip pain in women, it is critical to consider all systems that may be involved.

For instance, the pain felt at the front of the hip in the groin area may have a joint issue, an abdominal cause (such as a hernia), or a gynecological cause (a concern with the uterus or ovaries). A problem with the hip joint is more likely to cause distress over the side of the hip and in the butt region.

All of these, however, might also be brought on by pain and stiffness from a leg or lower back issue.

What can cause hip pain in a woman?

Here we can examine some of the causes of hip pain in women, available treatments, and the indications for seeking medical attention.

1. Arthritis

Women are most frequently affected by osteoarthritis, which is an arthritis-related condition. Women are more likely to develop osteoarthritis than men for several reasons. This includes the specific motion and functionality of women’s joints and the wider hips of women, which experts believe may impact how the knee is aligned, hormonal changes, and hypermobility.

How can it be avoided?

There are ways for women to delay the onset of osteoarthritis or stop its progression. To prevent injuries, this involves eating well, exercising frequently, and taking certain safety precautions when engaging in an activity.

2. Hip Fractures

In older women, especially those with osteoporosis, hip fractures are common. Hip fracture symptoms can include excruciating hip or groin pain, difficulty rising from a collapse, cuts, bruises, swelling all around the hip region, and a shortened leg on the injured hip.

How can it be avoided?

A healthy lifestyle can prevent future hip fractures, especially in early adulthood.

It is strongly advised to consume enough vitamin d and Calcium, exercise to enhance the bones and improve balance, refrain from smoking and consume excessive amounts of alcohol.

3. Tendinitis and bursitis

Both bursitis and tendinitis affect the tendons that link the muscles to the joints. Both situations are common in women and can cause hip pain because soft tissue injuries are more common in women. The inflammation of the tendons causes a painful condition known as tendinitis.

Overuse can cause inflammation in the tendons surrounding the joints, resulting in tendinitis and sudden hip pain. Contrarily, bursitis happens when the tiny fluid-filled sacs surrounding a joint become irritated and inflamed. The sacs can swell up from frustration or overuse and lead to pain when trying to move the hip joint, which is comparable to tendinitis.

How can it be avoided?

One can avoid tendinitis and bursitis by properly heating up and stretching before and after strenuous physical activity, properly preparing for a new activity, maintaining good body mechanics, and ceasing when an activity causes pain.

4. Femoral hernia

Women are more likely to experience a femoral hernia than males. Experts concur that straining significantly contributes to the occurrence of femoral hernia in women, even though the actual cause is still unknown.

Pregnancy, constipation, becoming overweight, lifting heavy, and chronic coughing are a few causes of the straining.

How can it be avoided? 

Read Related Also: 5 Warning Signs of Heart Failure

Maintaining a healthy body weight, including adequate fiber in the diet to prevent constipation, exercising caution when lifting heavy objects, and seeing a doctor if you have a persistent cough can all help prevent femoral hernias.

5. Osteoarthritis

This is a frequent reason for dull, daily hip pain. Your joints stiffen and swell due to osteoarthritis inflammation and cartilage decay, which causes pain and deformity.

According to recent research, osteoarthritis develops when the hip bones do not fit together neatly due to poor bone formation.

Being active, such as participating in elevated sports like basketball or marathon running, can raise your risk of developing osteoarthritis. The pain can become incapacitating when combined with aging, obesity, or traumatic injury.

How can it be avoided?

More aggressive therapies include stem cell treatment and surgery, ranging from hip reappearing to total hip replacement, rest, ice, steroids, and over-the-counter painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.

6. Endometriosis

Endometrial lesions that develop around a nerve can cause hip pain that may radiate to the buttocks. Endometriosis is a painful condition in which tissue that resembles the endometrial lining grows inside the uterus.

How can it be avoided?

Endometriosis cannot be prevented specifically, but by maintaining a healthy weight and limiting your intake of alcohol and caffeine, you can lessen your risk of developing it.

7. Gynecological or pelvic floor issues  

Another area of your pelvis may be the source of the hip pain you’re experiencing.

Instead of a hip issue, endometriosis or fibroids may be to blame if the pain is localized to the groin and occurs during ovulation or your period. Hip injuries are frequently mistaken for urological and gastrointestinal conditions like gastroenteritis and prostate cancer.

How can it be avoided?

For a full workup, visit your primary physician. They might suggest that you receive treatment from a gynecologist or gastroenterologist, for example, based on the diagnosis.

Top 4 hip pain relief suggestions –

• Consult your doctor or pharmacist about pain relief

Get your sudden hip pain under control if it significantly affects your daily life. Traditional over-the-counter (OTC) medications like ibuprofen and paracetamol can be incredibly effective for joint pain. 

Ask your neighborhood pharmacist for more information on the best way to take these; they can provide advice specific to your needs. It is wise to seek additional guidance from your doctor, who can recommend an alternative if you find that these treatments are not sufficiently relieving your pain.

• Modification of exercise 

With chronic hip pain, it would help if you kept the hip joint moving as much as possible. Even though movement can be distressing, keeping your joints mobile can offer many advantages, especially for osteoarthritis. The focus should be on gentler, lesser exercises that support mobility maintenance without overworking or taxing the weight-bearing joints. 

If your hip pain results from overexertion, especially long-distance running, it is best to take some time off before gradually resuming your regular exercise routine.

People with osteoarthritis who are overweight and undergoing joint pain have been shown to experience a significant improvement in their symptoms after losing weight. Exercise and weight loss, in particular, are highly effective ways to treat hip osteoarthritis and are potential alternatives to avoiding or delaying this need for joint replacement.

• Physical therapy and specific exercise

You can perform a few specific, more focused exercises to help improve the muscles all over your hip and relieve pain, in addition to modifying general exercise and staying active.

Conclusion – 

Treatment for hip pain depends on the underlying cause, but pain brought on by overuse or sports-related injuries are frequently managed with heat, rest, and over-the-counter painkillers. Dr. Philippon advises wearing appropriate clothing, especially when running, and stretching before exercising to prevent injuries.

Stop any activities that make your hip pain worse and consult your doctor if you suspect certain activities or overuse are to blame. Losing weight can relieve and help you prevent further issues because being overweight can pressure the hip joint. Some hip pain causes, like fractures or hernias, may require surgical correction. Consult your doctor about the potential causes and treatments if your hip pain is persistent.