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Non-Operative Treatments for Hip Pain
When you’re dealing with hip pain, you know how much it affects your daily life. Your hip is a ball-and-socket joint held together with ligaments and surrounded by muscles. Whether you’re experiencing a torn ligament, a fractured bone, or inflammation caused by arthritis, the pain in your hip joint hinders your ability to walk, turn, and bend.
In some cases, patients with hip pain are wary about addressing the situation because they want to avoid hip replacement surgery. However, not all hip injuries call for surgery. There are many different non-operative treatment methods that can help relieve your hip pain and get you back to living your normal life. Read on for more information about these treatment methods.
Anti-Inflammatory Medication
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications are used to treat mild to moderate pain. These drugs will treat pain associated with the inflammation caused by muscular tears, bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis, or synovitis. They’re typically used in conjunction with another treatment method such as physical therapy. Anti-inflammatory medications are also administered to relieve pain after surgery.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy is crucial to treating hip pain. The hip joint is surrounded by muscles, so physical therapy aims to strengthen the muscles as well as increase flexibility and range of motion. By doing so, inflammation is reduced, which also alleviates pain.
Injections
Your doctor may recommend that you receive injections. One type of injection is called diagnostic. During this procedure, a numbing drug is injected into the joint, and the immediate relief from pain will confirm that the joint is the source of the pain.
The other type of injection will relieve pain by putting cortisone directly into the hip joint. This method is beneficial because it typically lasts for a long time, even up to two weeks.
Thermotherapy
This is the practice of apply hot or cold packs to the affected area. Heat can loosen the muscles and sooth the inflammation, while cold packs can reduce inflammation.
Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation
This method uses low-voltage electric impulses to relieve your pain. It’s believed that pain is relieved by inhibiting the conduction of pain to reach the receptors in the brain and spinal cord. During this method, the patient wears a device that generates the impulses.
If you utilize these methods for several weeks but don’t see any results, you may need to seek out a more serious treatment, such as surgery. Talk to your doctor and find out whether you’re a candidate for hip surgery.
Hip arthroscopy allows orthopaedic surgeons to make a small incision and insert a tiny device into the joint that relays the image onto a large monitor. The surgeon can see inside the joint and correct any issues with miniature tools without having to create a large incision that can make the recovery time longer.
Premier Orthopaedics is dedicated to providing quality care to all of their customers. If you’re considering surgery for your hip pain, download our e-book, Your How-To Guide to Choosing an Orthopaedic Surgeon.
