Hip Pain Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

Hip pain, or hip joint pain, is among the many aches and pains typical of aging. But when the causes of hip pain are anything other than an injury, they may require surgical remedies. A simple fall or accident that occurs to an otherwise healthy person may be of no lasting consequence. But the same fall or accident involving a person with osteoporosis may require hospitalization.

The key for most people is early diagnosis and following doctors' orders in an attempt to relieve the hip pain. Often calcium and condroitin are prescribed for some time before more serious steps are taken.

For many, the causes of hip pain are not degenerative but environmental and they disappear with changes in lifestyle. Normally, adding a standing mat will ease some pain if an employment situation involves standing on concrete all day.

Some orthopedic doctors will prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or pain relievers. Cortisone injections provide fairly long-term relief from hip joint pain. After a fairly long treatment period there may be no improvement, or the hip joint pain may, in fact, worsen. When this is the case, preventative surgery may be advised to keep the hip pain from growing into a completely debilitating injury.

There is no substitution for good diagnostic medicine. If the causes of hip pain are a mystery and hip joint pain is chronic, often the cause is a degenerative condition that involves the cartilage thinning and the bone density decreasing. From that point, nerves become pinched as the structures of the hip collapse on them. Bone density testing should be a part of standard regular healthcare. When caught in its early stages, osteoporosis may be corrected by different drug therapies.

Knowing how great the risk is of fractures can also help a person decide the level of activity that is appropriate. Knowing the difference between arthritis pain and more serious advanced osteoporosis will also help a person to avoid more difficult problems. Someone with arthritis may be better off taking daily walks and managing the pain with prescription medications. But someone who has advanced osteoporosis involving breakdown in the architecture of the substructures of the bone would not be advised to be involved in risky activity. Even a slight stumble could cause severe fractures- the hip joint pain would be excruciating.

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