Depending on your specific case, your physiotherapist can also discuss if having a scan is necessary.
After all the testing, your physiotherapist will have a much better idea of how to help you fix your hip pain. In addition, your physiotherapist will have a look at your movements and may also measure your hip strength to see if this is something that needs to be worked on. In a typical consultation, your physiotherapist will ask you questions about activities that bring on your hip pain, how long you’ve been having the issue for, and questions to rule out other conditions. If you think you might have GTPS, seeing a physiotherapist is a great first step to figuring out how to deal with the issue. Whilst a scan can be helpful for seeing the inflammation or any other structural changes, this is usually not necessary for successful treatment of the condition! That’s because a scan can only show the structures of the hip – it doesn’t really tell us much about what you’re experiencing. Sometimes, patients may consult their GP about their condition and may be referred for a scan (usually an ultrasound or MRI). Lying on your side or sitting cross legged will directly compress the structures on the side of the hip, which can lead to pain and discomfort when in those positions. Both of these can lead to pain that is felt in the side of the hip. Activities like standing, walking and going up stairs require contraction of the muscles on the side of the hip, which places tension on the tendons and can also increase pressure on the bursa. If you find yourself nodding along, it is possible that you may have GTPS. Tenderness when pressing against the hip bone.Pain with prolonged standing or walking.If you are unsure if you have GTPS, check out the following list of symptoms that people who have the condition usually report: As such, we use the term greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) to describe the pain that people have in this region. Sometimes, the pain may be due to sensitivity of other structures nearby such as tendons. Sometimes, the bursa can become inflamed due to excessive friction or pressure from surrounding structures, and the inflammation can contribute to pain in the side of the hip.Īlthough bursitis is commonly blamed for this pain, research has found that many patients with hip pain actually show little or no signs of inflammation (Strauss et al., 2010), which means that inflammation is not always the problem. Tendons, ligaments, and muscles all glide over bones and other structures when we move, so bursa are strategically located in areas where there is a lot of movement or pressure. Hip bursitis is commonly thought to be the reason for pain in the side of the hip.Ī bursa is a small, slippery sac of fluid that functions as a cushion and reduces friction in the body. If you’ve been having pain in the side of your hip, you may have been told by your GP or someone else (or Google!) that you have hip bursitis. I’ve got this pain in the side of my hip… is it bursitis?