Gaining Hip Pain Relief Through Chiropractic Care

Hip pain comes from a variety of sources and causes varying amount of disability for those experiencing the condition. Fortunately, many people suffering from hip discomfort can gain a measure of pain relief from safe, gentle, effective chiropractic care. This article will discuss causes of hip pain, some natural, alternative methods of hip pain relief and how doctors of chiropractic are trained to assess and treat hip pain related conditions.

During my 35 years of chiropractic practice I have seen many patients experiencing hip pain. There is not one single cause for those suffering from this malady. Different patients experience pain of the hip from differing causes.

Some people have hip pain because the hip has arthritic degeneration. This simply means that the hip joint, which is a ball and socket joint, has experienced wear and tear and now is bone on bone. When I treat a patient of this type I initially assess what might be done to help. First, I always check to see if the pelvis is in good alignment and that the pelvic joints have normal movement. If the pelvis is out of alignment and moving improperly, I will perform chiropractic adjustments to correct alignment and movement. I also like to use a soft-tissue technique where I apply gentle, sustained pressure into the muscles and fascia to aid in the repair of these injured tissues. While these methods can’t correct arthritis, they can help reduce inflammation and irritation of the hip joint and help patients to gain a great deal of relief of their hip discomfort.

There are other patients who come to me with what they call hip pain but point to the area where the rear pocket of their pants or slacks is located. This is not the true hip joint, but an area of the pelvis called the sacroiliac joint. The sacroiliac joint is located on both sides of the lower back. It is not located in the center of the back but more so off to the sides. The sacroiliac joint is a gliding joint. It glides back and forth as we walk. If it is out of alignment and not moving properly it responds very well to chiropractic adjusting. People with this problem usually respond very well to their chiropractic care.

Sometimes, the hip joint itself can become injured due to trauma or a repetitive stress. If this is the case, we can help the inflamed and irritated tissues to repair with electrical muscle stimulation and ice application. At the appropriate time, gentle chiropractic manipulations of the joint help restore alignment and movement.

Doctors of chiropractic are trained to assess and treat hip conditions. It is important to look at the whole patient and not just the actual hip joint, which would limit all the possible causes and the various treatment opportunities available. Chiropractic care is a drug-free, nonsurgical, safe, effective, gentle approach for patients to gain pain relief.