Fast track your hip pain treatment in Harrow
Finding the exact cause of hip pain without specialist help can be difficult. While hip pain is challenging to live with, it can be effectively managed and treated with a variety of treatment options.After conservative non-invasive treatments have been exhausted, your consultant may suggest surgical treatments available at The Clementine Churchill Hospital.
If your consultant has diagnosed inflammation or bursitis of the hip, they may send you for a steroid injection. This is often available at the same time as your first appointment. A radiologist will administer the injection using ultrasound to place it correctly.
Our consultants at the Clementine Churchill Hospital will always offer non-surgical treatment options such as physiotherapy or a steroid injection first. However, hip surgery may be required to stabilise the bone after a hip fracture or dislocation. We offer private treatments ranging from hip arthroscopy (keyhole surgery) to hip debridement for abnormal hip joints and total hip replacement.
A private total hip replacement may be the last resort if your range of motion is limited and the pain is so bad that it affects your quality of life. A total hip replacement is a joint surgery for people aged 65 and over. The consultant surgeon replaces a worn or damaged natural hip joint with an artificial implant (prosthesis). It is one of the most successful surgeries at freeing patients from pain and stiffness.
Find out how you can fast-track your private hip replacement surgery in Harrow.
Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of hip pain in adults over 45. It is a degenerative joint disease that affects 8 million people in the UK.
Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon at The Clementine Churchill Hospital, Hani Abdul-Jabar, said: “The main cause of hip pain in patients we see is predominantly arthritis and degenerate pain in all adult age groups, but sometimes sports injuries in children and young adults, too.”
Sufferers of osteoarthritis often experience pain and stiffness in the hip joint. Hip pain can be particularly acute after walking or moving about, but people can feel pain in different places, such as the lower back.
Another trigger is rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that destroys the joints.
As well as seeing patients with hip arthritis, our hip specialists at The Clementine Churchill Hospital also see people with other conditions that may cause hip pain, such as:
Hip pain from sprains or strains after overdoing exercise is common, but it’s good to have it checked by a doctor if your pain does not reduce after a few weeks. However, you should seek medical attention fast if you experience sudden, extreme pain after a fall and can’t walk, have a temperature and are sweating or feverish.
During pregnancy, added body weight can put the joints and muscles around your hip, lower back, and knees under stress, causing pain. It happens mainly in the second and third trimesters.
Another factor could be the softening of the ligaments and joints caused by the ‘relaxin’ hormone weakening the hip joint capsule, pelvis, and ligaments.
Read more about hip pain in pregnancy.
Prolonged sitting can cause hip pain. The hip flexor muscles around the ball and socket joint can become sore and tight if you sit for too long, giving pain in the hips and lower back.
If you sit all day and have bad posture or an unsupportive chair or car seat, the fluid-filled sacs (bursae) that supply cushioning between the joints can also become irritated and inflamed, causing hip bursitis.
Hip pain can have many causes, from a sudden injury or fall to diseases like arthritis. It can affect the hip’s range of motion, its stability and how much weight it bears. The symptoms do not always affect the hip alone – pain can radiate to another body part, such as the groin, or from the lower back.
A consultant orthopaedic hip surgeon at the Clementine Churchill Hospital will be able to diagnose the problem and arrange for swift treatment for your symptoms. We explain the main symptoms of common joint pain conditions below.
Hip stiffness and pain from osteoarthritis, usually in the over 45s, are often worse in the morning. It can be painful to put on clothes on the lower part of your body, e.g., pulling up trousers or putting on shoes and socks. The hip joint may also feel as if it is crunching or grinding.
With rheumatoid arthritis, its characteristic throbbing pain and stiffness are often worse when people wake up or haven’t moved for a while. Versus Arthritis says one way to tell the difference is that morning stiffness takes longer to ease than the stiffness with osteoarthritis.
A stress fracture around the hip is associated with sports injuries like running, but hip fractures are also more common as we age. If you fall or injure your hip and are in severe, sudden pain and unable to walk, a hip fracture could be the cause and needs urgent investigation.
Hip impingement (femoroacetabular impingement) is a rare hip disorder that affects primarily young adults. It involves the thigh-bone (femur) and hip socket (acetabulum) making contact before they should. The symptoms include back, buttock and thigh pain, clicking, stiffness, locking and restricted movement.
Labral tears are usually caused by the cartilage (labrum) tearing or pulling away from the hip socket’s rim on one side. Tears can happen with or without impingement. Some patients suffer no symptoms, but others experience sharp pain, a grinding sensation and a feeling that the hip is catching, locking or giving way.
Ischial (sitting bone) bursitis causes pain in the buttock, but other areas can hurt depending on which of the other bursae around the hip is inflamed and irritated. Trochanteric bursitis describes inflammation in the bursa that overlies the outer upper thigh-bone. It often happens when the gluteal muscles (glutes) around the buttock are weak.
Hip pain is not always felt solely in the hip. Our specialists at the Clementine Churchill Hospital will be able to tell the cause after seeing how you walk, talking to you about your medical history and conducting tests such as X-rays and blood tests.
With trochanteric bursitis, pain and tenderness are felt in the pelvis and tendons attached to the hip at the front, especially after walking for a long time, rising from a chair and at night when lying on the sore side.
The iliopsoas bursitis, which causes pain in the groin area, is less common than trochanteric bursitis.
Sometimes hip pain is felt as ‘referred pain’ from the lower back into the hip and thigh. This pain can be due to a trapped nerve and needs investigating.
Patients usually feel hip osteoarthritis in the hip and thighs, but the disease can also present as knee pain.
Inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis can cause groin pain radiating to the outer thigh and buttocks. There may be swelling in the joint and inflammation in different body parts.
Pain from the hip due to a labral tear can also be felt in the leg, buttock, and lower back, whereas a sharp pain in the hip or pelvis could be a symptom of hip flexor muscle injury.
You should seek medical help urgently if the pain is accompanied by sweat or fever. Read more about night pain.
If your osteoarthritis is mild, your local chemist or pharmacist in Harrow, Ealing or other parts of West London can recommend over-the-counter painkillers and anti-inflammatory gels for hip pain and advise you on where to get further help.
It’s good to ask your doctor or personal trainer for advice on the best exercises to do. But generally, you can self-help with gentle activities like yoga or swimming that stretch the muscles supporting the painful hip joint.
If painkillers and gentle exercise have not helped, your doctor may refer you to a physiotherapist. Our experienced chartered physiotherapists can help with hip pain by strengthening weakened muscles and tendons around the joint.
An orthopaedic consultant specialises in bone conditions, with hip pain as a subspecialty. Our expert consultant orthopaedic surgeons can arrange tests and plan treatments to give you fast relief from hip pain. Tests include:
The results will inform the treatment plan, from physiotherapy and steroid injections to complex hip surgery, all available at our hospital in Harrow.
Your orthopaedic consultant may send you to other specialists depending on your initial appointment and any diagnostics such as X-rays and scans taken at our Syon Clinic in Brentford or The Clementine Churchill Hospital.
Suppose your consultant can see no structural abnormality from the imaging, or the findings in the clinic and examination do not match. In that case, they might refer you to a consultant in spinal injuries, neurological and trauma rehabilitation. Another possible referral is to a rheumatologist (who studies inflammatory arthritis, musculoskeletal conditions, and autoimmune diseases).
Mr Abdul-Jabar said: “Patients’ biggest worries when they present with hip pain is fear of needing surgery. But pain relief, activity modifications and seeing a physiotherapist can help alleviate the acute pain.”
Sometimes the body heals itself and will get better with relative rest of the strained area while keeping active with gentle activities.
Applying heat or ice to the injured muscle may help to reduce inflammation and, therefore, pain.
If rest and heat or ice packs haven’t worked, the next line of treatments to relieve hip pain is often non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen and gentle exercise.
Your orthopaedic consultant may prescribe more potent painkillers than you can get at a chemist, such as diclofenac or naproxen. They may also arrange for a steroid injection to relieve hip pain or work closely with a chartered physiotherapist to tailor an exercise plan to fit your needs.
Pilates, yoga and swimming are all good exercises to restore strength. In our physio-gym, our physiotherapists can also improve hip pain and joint mobilisation through activities like stretching. They also offer manual techniques like massage, manipulation and acupuncture to prevent stiffness, increase movement and manage the pain.
A wedge-shaped pillow under your hips may help to reduce stress and supply cushioning. Likewise, an ordinary pillow under or between your knees can align the hips. It can offer relief for side-sleepers and pregnant women.
If you want to know more about hip pain treatment, book your appointment online today or call a member of our team directly on 0141 300 5009.
You will experience fast, friendly and expert care from a multidisciplinary team, including consultants, physiotherapists and nurses. They will put you at ease, take the time to listen, and ensure you have the proper hip pain treatment at a time that suits you.
You can choose from many specialist hip consultants with on-site availability covering all treatment methods. Discover our treatment prices at The Clementine Churchill Hospital.
Located on the outskirts of Harrow on the Hill, our hospital is easy to get to by road, rail or tube. It takes a few minutes to walk to the hospital from Sudbury Hill tube and railway stations. The hospital is also easy to access from the M25 motorway and the A40 and A41 and has a car park that operates with ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition).
Mon - Sun: 8am - 10pm
Have you registered your car on the terminal at reception?
If not this may result in receiving fines from our ANPR system. If you are unsure how to do this, please call or ask a member of the team.
