The Many Causes of Hip Pain

The hip is a complicated joint and has a potential for many causes of hip pain.

There is an incredible range of motion from the synchronicity of many muscles, all inserting at different points around the hip and pelvis.

Some of the muscles pull your thigh bone in a series of different directions, while other muscles keep your pelvis in alignment.

2 Primary Muscles that can be the Cause of Hip Pain:

The iliopsoas and the quadriceps are the two primary muscles that cause hip pain. These muscles rotate the pelvis forward and down, causing all of the muscles that insert into the pelvis to torque and spasm. Ouch!

As the iliopsoas muscle contracts it pulls down on the front side of your lumbar vertebrae causing you to bend over or it pulls up on your thigh bone causing your leg to lift in order to take a step or sit down.

When the muscle contains muscle fiber knots it pulls the thigh and torso toward each other, and when attempting to stand this forces a separation, pulling on the lumbar vertebrae and also on the inside of the hip.

The quadriceps originate on the tip of the anterior pelvis and then insert into the shinbone, just below the knee joint. When the quads are tight they pull hard on the front of your pelvis causing tension in the front of your hip and your knee.

Another Muscle that Causes Hip Pain:

The tensor fascia lata, a muscle on the outside of your hip, can also cause hip pain. This muscle merges into the iliotibial band (ITB) that inserts into the knee.

When the tensor fascia lata is in spasm (contains muscle knots) it not only causes hip pain, but it can also cause the outside of your knee to ache and to feel like it could pop out of joint.

To complicate the problem, while the iliopsoas and quadriceps pull the hip down in the front, tight hamstrings pull the pelvis down in the back. This causes pain in the top back of the leg and at the groin. Plus, as the muscles pull on both sides of the pelvis, this can cause pain that radiates all around the hip.

Find the Cause of Hip Pain:

The bottom line in order to treat hip pain you need to locate the source of the pain.

The best way to find the source is to pinpoint exactly where you feel the pain and then figure out which muscle inserts at that joint. This is the muscle causing your hip pain!

Treating Hip Pain:

Once you know which muscle is causing the pain, treating is easy!

Locate the most painful point in the length of the muscle. This normally is the muscle spasm that is causing the pain where the tendon attaches to the bone. When looking at hip pain, the spasm could be above the hip, below the joint or even directly on the joint.
Maintain deep pressure on the point for 60 seconds. Holding pressure directly on the knot (spasm) in the muscle flushes out toxins and stretches the muscle fibers. When the knot is released toxins are removed which causes a void in the muscle fiber. The body fills this void with nourishing blood and nutrients.
Stretch. Stretches are most effective after the muscle knots have released their strain on the tendon and bone.

While it is useful to have a therapist release your muscles, it is more beneficial to do regular, even daily, treatments (muscle release techniques) on the muscles that are repetitively used and strained. Maintaining healthy muscle tone rewards you with greater strength and flexibility and eliminates pain; keeping you in the race!

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