Hip pain is too often a nagging nemesis that speaks to us with each step we take. At night the conversation deepens into roar, each time we roll on to the bad hip. Too many of us have hip pain and most will end up with a hip replacement… but why?

The hip joint is a ball and socket joint and as such the greatest cause of pain is from friction. Both hip impingement syndrome (HIS) or femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) [1] is friction of the femoral head (ball of the hip socket) as the head of the femur constantly rubs into the hip socket[2]. Along with inflammation and pain, there is a noticeable restriction in the range of motion, with these cases. Athletes of all age are more prone to this diagnosis, due to the increased amount of falls and trauma from various sports.

So how do non athletes end up with bad hips? Do you walk with your feet outward, are you pigeon toed, knock kneed, or have you had a previous ankle or knee sprain? These factors undermine the stability of your legs and  hip, thus directly increasing friction in the socket … hmm bummer.  Without proper treatment this friction moves beyond a nagging pain as it rips and tears into your ligaments, articular and labral cartilage, causing first microscopic and then macroscopic destruction and inflammation. The head of the femur bone reacts by creating a plethora of bone spurs that fan out into a mushroom head. Welcome to osteoarthritis, the leading cause of hip replacements.    

30 million Americans are currently diagnosed with Hip Osteoarthritis (HOA). Standard treatments range from drugs, and surgery all too often these measures are minimally effective, time consuming, expensive, and not without risk. But doc I just want this FIXED!

In a recent study, Chiropractic reduced 83% of hip pain. The Chiropractic solution to hip pain and friction is to find, evaluate and alleviate the causes of hip friction. Clinically I find that each of my patients with hip pain has (at a very minimum) a misaligned hip joint, with either a decrease internal or decreased external rotation, and often both. Most of these misalignments are easy to alleviate with a short course of chiropractic, soft tissue release, and are then followed up with stretching and strengthening routine. Need more data?

Research studies have demonstrated that chiropractic hip manipulation, reduce symptoms of chronic hip pain by 83%! In another study of hip OA, Danish researchers found “more than 76% of the chiropractic patients reported improvement … and were significantly less likely to have hip replacement surgery within 12 months of the study.”

If your or your loved one is experiencing hip pain, I suggest you find a chiropractor experienced in extremity chiropractic and hip manipulation.

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As an extremity chiropractor I have performed thousands of hip and lower extremity adjustments. The hip adjustment is one that immediately corrects any range of motion issues, reduces muscle spasms and resets the hip joint mechanoreceptors. The results are instant and has create the desired outcome, 99% of the time, a beautiful thing. As great as it is, one still needs to address any muscle imbalances, trigger points and other leg misalignments putting the hip at risk. Lastly the patient may need to retrain themselves in lower extremity gait biomechanics, i.e. retraining to walk properly.