What is Hip Pain?
Hip pain is pain in and around the hip joint. The hip is a ball and socket joint. The femoral head sits in the pelvis and is basically anchored into the socket (called the acetabulum) through the labrum, which is like a suction cup that keeps the femoral head in place. When the labrum is in tact, there is good movement of the joint.
What can cause hip pain?
One of the things that can cause hip pain is a labral tear. A Hip Labral Tear is a disruption of the suction cup of the labrum. A Hip Labral Tear may cause hip pain that is associated with clicking or popping of the hip. You can also have impingement, groin pain or even buttock pain into your low back, depending on how you move your hip.
Hip Pain is Often Connected to the Pelvic Floor
Sometimes people who are being treated for a labral tear are also experiencing issues related to the pelvic floor and don’t realize that the two are connected.
The hip joint sits underneath the musculature of the pelvic floor and is attached to the pelvis. Since the two are connected, the pelvis also contributes to the way the hip is moving and plays a role in adding stability and strength to the hip.
If you have a Labral Tear, then all the other muscles around that hip have to work overtime to keep that ball in the socket. If those muscles are overworked, one of those being the pelvic floor, then over time this can create tension and cause pelvic floor dysfunction and its associated symptoms.
Pelvic floor dysfunction can present with many symptoms, including:
- —incontinence
- —pain with intercourse
- —pain in the perineum, saddle or tailbone area
Hip Pain Treatment
It’s important to treat both the hip and the pelvic floor if the two are connected to get to the root of the problem.
Techniques that might be used include:
