Tips for outer hip pain
Outside hip pain is one of the most common things we see in the clinic at this time of year. Especially as it gets colder. If you’ve ChatGPT’d your symptoms it will probably come up with trochanteric bursitis, gluteal tendonitis. They are the same thing and we call it gluteal Tendinopathy these days!
It’s more common in women (your hip shape makes you more susceptible to it) and is more common during menopause. Believe it or not it’s very common in Waiheke males more than anywhere else I've seen. My theory is the beach angles and our uneven terrain.
Interestingly the things that make it worse feel like the right things to do. Things like pigeon pose and glute stretches generally make it worse.
Crossing your legs is probably the worst thing you can do for it!
Most people complain of night pain no matter whether you sleep on your painful hip or you sleep on the other one. It can be the only complaint!
It’s stiff in the morning, and can feel really stiff as you stand up from sitting.
Why is it painful with the above? The tendon becomes thickened and sensitive. When it is thickened and you push it against your hip bone it is really painful. The more you do it the worse it gets. Think crossing your legs all day at work! Or a yoga class.
The good news is the majority of them recover well with the right program. There are a lot of studies to show the exercises we prescribe really help. The bad news is it can take a little while to settle. 3 months with a progressive exercise program is considered good.
The program we prescribe based on the latest research is based on a couple of things
Reducing the pressure of the tendon against the bone. For example sleeping with a pillow between your knees stops you stretching your hip all night or avoiding pigeon pose for a bit until it has settled and not crossing your legs
We start with exercises that activate the outside glute and give the tendon a little load without compressing it. From there we add harder exercises, then more weight and finally start doing your fave stretches again.
Check out THIS VIDEO for a couple of the exercises we use. Feel free to try them yourself but I'd highly encourage you to come in and get assessed as 3 different people will need 3 different exercises. You can book in here if you need an assessment, or forward this to someone you know who is complaining about “outside ass pain”!!