Is your hip pain actually coming from your back?
For those individuals suffering from hip pain, it may not be coming from your hip at all. It may actually be coming from your lumbar spine. The most common source of the pain in the US is from a problem inside the joint. This is typically some hip arthritis, or it could be a cartilage tear as well. It may also be emanating from a soft tissue problem around the hip joint such as the bursa on the outside area. This is called greater trochanteric bursitis.
In addition though, an individual may be suffering from lumbar spinal stenosis which may be pinching nerves and causing pain to radiate through the buttock around the hip area or into the hip joint itself. This may mask as hip joint arthritis.
This information can be obtained through the history and physical examination of the patient along with imaging studies such as x-rays and MRI and maybe an injection as a diagnostic procedure. Here is an example of a clear-cut case. The person has pain with activity such as walking, and they have tenderness over the hip joint and pain with range of motion of the joint.
If the hip x-rays show significant arthritis, then with reasonable certainty the doctor can say that arthritis is causing the patients hip pain.
Here is a case that is not so clear-cut. An individual has pain that radiates from the outside of the hip down the side of the thigh a bit and a little bit into the joint itself. The pain does worsen with activity and mild hip pain is felt with range of motion of the joint along with some tenderness on the outside part of it and the joint itself. This makes it not so clear.
If x-rays showed mild to moderate hip arthritis, then the next step in the workup maybe an MRI of the lumbar spine and a diagnostic injection of numbing medicine into the hip. This injection is done by pain management doctors in Florida under fluoroscopy which is a real-time form of x-ray.
The doctor will place numbing medicine into the joint and maybe some steroid medication. Within five minutes the patient should be able to say how much pain relief is being achieved especially when they get up to walk. If 100% pain relief is achieved, the joint itself is deemed to be the culprit. If less than that is seen, it may be that the hip is only part of the problem and that the lumbar fine with spinal stenosis and a pinched nerve is causing the rest. The person may
then benefit from a series of lumbar epidural injections.
So the end result may be that the hip is causing all of the pain, part of the pain, and it may be that lumbar spinal stenosis is contributing or maybe the sole culprit if they have joint injection provides no relief in epidural injections provide a lot.
If you live in Florida and are dealing with a painful situation that is either acute or chronic, Florida Pain Network can help. Clinics listed in the directory are pain management clinics throughout the state, chiropractors and physical therapy practices.
On the website HERE simply click what kind of provider you need and then put in your ZIP Code. The clinics closest to you will show up first. This may include a pain management Orlando clinic or Tampa pain management or plenty are listed around the state. Or simply call 877 877 8556 for assistance today.