Hip and groin pain

Adhesive capsulitis commonly affects the shoulder, but it can also affect the hip. It is more common in women.

It can be very painful at first, which limits the movement of your hip in all directions. The pain is worse when weight is put on the leg and often also at night.

Over time, the pain settles to a stiffness when you move your hip. This loss of movement makes it hard to do certain things, including sitting cross-legged.

Your hip joint has a rim of cartilage called the labrum. The labrum helps keep fluid in your hip joint. This cushions your hip joint when you do activities like walking, running and jumping.

A labral tear is an injury that damages the labrum.

Hip labral tears

There are several types of hip fractures.

Stress fractures

Stress fractures are more common in:

• women aged 20 to 50
• athletes such as runners and gymnasts.

You are more at risk of a stress fracture if you have:

• have osteoporosis
• are overweight
• have an eating disorder

Stress fractures can cause pain when you put your weight on your legs and may cause you to limp.

Traumatic fractures

A traumatic fracture is a broken bone caused by an injury such as a motor vehicle accident or a fall.

The older you are, the less force is needed to cause a fracture. That is why hip fractures are a higher risk for older people, especially women over 50.

You are more at risk of a traumatic fracture if you have:

• osteoporosis
• had a previous injury.

Fractures can cause pain when you put your weight on your legs. You might not be able to put all your weight on your legs. You may need to use crutches.

Using a pair of crutches

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome is a condition that causes pain on the outside of your hip. It might be sore to:

• touch the area
• lie on your side
• go up stairs
• walk or run.

It is more common in women than men.

It can be caused by a:

• sudden increase in activity
• an inactive lifestyle
• fall onto your hip.

This is a common cause of hip pain. It is caused by movement and is not due to damage to any of the structures in your hip. You will feel the pain in your hip region including your buttocks and groin.

Usually, moving your hip in one direction causes then increases the pain. For example, going up steps or sitting in a low seat. Moving it in the other direction decreases the pain.

So, if bending your hip forwards makes it sore, stretching it backwards will relieve the pain.

With osteoarthritis of the hip, you normally feel it deep inside of your hip or in your groin.

Sometimes you can feel pain down the front of your thigh or in your buttock.

Osteoarthritis

Being pregnant increases the risk of a condition called a tear of the ligamentum fovea. It is more common in highly active women.

This condition causes pain in your groin and deep in your hip. It makes it harder to:

• put weight on your legs
• exercise.

You may need to use crutches.

Using a pair of crutches

Tendinopathy is the term for a painful tendon. It can happen in any of the tendons around your hip, and you will feel pain in the area of the tendon.

It can happen if you:

• suddenly increase your training level
• are injured, such as after a fall.

With tendinopathy, you get pain when you use the affected tendon, such as:

• kicking a ball with a groin strain
• running with a hamstring strain
• climbing stairs with a hip flexor strain.

To treat tendinopathy, you will be given exercises to gradually strengthen the affected tendon. You should avoid stretching the affected tendon until it has recovered.

Groin strains

Total hip replacement dislocation causes sudden pain. The joint might be visibly out of place. You will not be able to put your weight on your legs.

It can be caused by:

• crossing your legs
• rolling in bed
• sitting in a deep chair
• bending forward.

It is more common if you have previously had a dislocation.

Low back pain can also cause pain in your hip, buttock and leg. This is called referred pain, which means the cause is in one part of your body, but you feel it somewhere else.

Hip pain that is from your low back is usually worse with sitting and better with standing and walking.

Low back pain