Hip Pain
What is it?
There are lots of possible causes of hip pain. It might be caused by a sudden injury or a longer-lasting problem such as arthritis. Do not self diagnose, come and see one of our specialists to assess the problem. Hip pain can present as any of the following: Pain, swelling or bruising after intense or repetitive exercise, pain worse when walking and stiffness after moving, Pain and stiffness worse after not moving (for example, when you wake up), severe pain and unable to walk after a fall or injury
How can we help?
Physiotherapy can be excellent at treating hip pain. Our physiotherapists are proficient at treating this particular type of pain. Physiotherapy can often help hip pain that comes on suddenly and/or pain when standing (bearing weight on the hip).
We will review the joint integrity, stability and consider muscular imbalances or weakness. We will also consider a wide range of hip pathology. It can be lifestyle related, so we will provide advice on how to effectively manage these extrinsic factors.
Before they begin to treat a hip-pain sufferer, however, a Physiotherapist will pin down what exactly is causing you the discomfort via a Physio Assessment.
What does a Physio Assessment Involve?
Do I need a Physio Assessment OR a Sports Massage?
Pre-event Sports Massage
If you have a sporting event such as a rugby match, 10km run, marathon training sessions or a triathlon coming up then sports massages can help to prepare your body by ensuring that your muscles and soft tissues are supple and ready for activity.
Post-event Sports Massage
Sports massage can help to accelerate recovery following activity enabling you to get back to training.
Maintenance Sports Massage
Some people will use sports massage to keep them fresh during training for large events but also when managing a long-term issue that has already been assessed and diagnosed. It can also help when you are working on posture improvements.
So at what point do I require more than a massage?
Some people think a Sports Massage is the answer to their problem, when the problem may be deeper rooted, or stemming from a totally different location on their body. If you have neurological symptoms (like pins and needles or numbness) or we suspect that there may be an underlying cause for your aches and pains then we’d often recommend a deeper investigation with a physiotherapy assessment.
Our bodies are cleverly made up of so many different parts which are designed to work perfectly and efficiently in sync with each other. If a cog in our wheel becomes imbalanced, weak, tight, injured or dysfunctional, we run into issues, and here’s the interesting part – you may experience pain in completely different parts of your body! Weird right? Some common examples of this are, back issues stemming from a weakness and imbalance in the hip or even feet!
Most of us are also sitting more and moving less, which can lead to muscle imbalances and weaknesses that have a knock-on effect to the way you move. When left untreated these imbalances can eventually result in pain and dysfunction. With non-traumatic injuries, pain is often the last thing to be felt and there’s usually stiffness or weakness well before pain comes on. In professional sport players are screened regularly to identify these imbalances so Physio’s can intervene before pain.
So, when you’re faced with the decision of whether you need a sports massage or physio assessment remember….
- Maintenance – assists in managing longer-term issues, and addressing on-going postural or repetitive strain issues.
- Post-event – accelerates recovery and ensures on-going training is not disrupted.
- Pre-event – assists in event preparation, ensuring muscles and soft tissue are supple and ready for activity.
