Hip pain.
What is causing your hip pain?
Hip pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints in adults, affecting people across all age groups — from adolescent athletes to older adults with degenerative joint disease. Hip pain can be caused by a variety of factors, ranging from overuse injuries to structural abnormalities in the hip joint, and can greatly impact the ability to carry out everyday activities such as walking, running and climbing stairs.
The hip is a complex region — pain felt in or around the hip can arise from the joint itself, from the surrounding soft tissues, from the lumbar spine referring into the hip, or from the sacroiliac joint and pelvis. A holistic approach addressing not just the local structures in and around the hip but also considering referral pain from other regions is essential for accurate diagnosis. Getting the diagnosis right matters — the treatment for hip osteoarthritis is quite different from that for greater trochanteric pain syndrome, which differs again from femoroacetabular impingement or a labral tear.
How is hip pain diagnosed?
A physiotherapy assessment evaluates the likely pain source through specific provocation tests, hip and lumbar movement assessment, strength testing and functional analysis. Ultrasound is the most accessible imaging for tendon, bursa and soft tissue pathology. MRI provides comprehensive assessment for labral tears, stress fractures and bony pathology. X-ray identifies bony morphology changes including FAI and osteoarthritis.
How can physiotherapy help?
The rehabilitation approach is specific to the diagnosis. Gluteal strengthening — particularly the gluteus medius and deep external rotators — is central to most hip pain presentations, as weakness in these muscles is one of the most consistent findings across hip conditions. Hip flexor and adductor loading programs address the tendon conditions specific to those structures. Manual therapy improves hip joint mobility and reduces pain through neurophysiological mechanisms.
Real time ultrasound assists in retraining deep hip stabiliser activation. Clinical Pilates provides controlled hip and pelvic strengthening in a low-impact environment with precise load progression. Dry needling assists with pain management in the gluteal, hip flexor and adductor regions.
For patients whose hip condition arose from a workplace or motor vehicle injury, WorkCover and CTP funded physiotherapy is available.
Our physiotherapists Eliane Machado, Bethany Kippen and Emma Cameron all have experience in hip conditions and are members of the Australian Physiotherapy Association. Eliane's doctoral research in lower limb biomechanics is directly relevant to the movement analysis and rehabilitation planning that underpins good hip pain outcomes.
To book or find out more, call us on 07 3706 3407 or book online below. We see patients from across Brisbane's southside including Tarragindi, Coorparoo, Holland Park, Greenslopes and Mt Gravatt.
Hip pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints in adults, affecting people across all age groups — from adolescent athletes to older adults with degenerative joint disease. Hip pain can be caused by a variety of factors, ranging from overuse injuries to structural abnormalities in the hip joint, and can greatly impact the ability to carry out everyday activities such as walking, running and climbing stairs.
The hip is a complex region — pain felt in or around the hip can arise from the joint itself, from the surrounding soft tissues, from the lumbar spine referring into the hip, or from the sacroiliac joint and pelvis. A holistic approach addressing not just the local structures in and around the hip but also considering referral pain from other regions is essential for accurate diagnosis. Getting the diagnosis right matters — the treatment for hip osteoarthritis is quite different from that for greater trochanteric pain syndrome, which differs again from femoroacetabular impingement or a labral tear.
- Common causes of hip pain
- Hip osteoarthritis — degenerative breakdown of the articular cartilage of the hip joint — is the most common cause of hip pain in adults over 50 and the leading indication for total hip replacement. Exercise and physiotherapy are among the most evidence-based treatments, with structured programs producing meaningful and sustained pain reduction without accelerating joint degeneration.
- Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) — where abnormal bony morphology of the femoral head or acetabulum creates mechanical contact during hip movement — produces groin pain and restricted range of motion, particularly with hip flexion and internal rotation. It is common in young active adults and athletes and is strongly associated with labral tears.
- Hip labral tears — damage to the fibrocartilaginous rim of the acetabulum — produce deep groin pain, clicking, catching and a sense of hip instability. They most commonly occur in the context of FAI and respond to physiotherapy for minor tears; more significant tears may require arthroscopic repair.
- Greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) — the umbrella term for lateral hip pain from gluteal tendinopathy, trochanteric bursitis and related pathology — produces pain over the outer hip that is worse with lying on the affected side, prolonged sitting, climbing stairs and walking. It is most common in perimenopausal women and responds very well to targeted physiotherapy.
- Gluteal tendinopathy — degeneration of the gluteus medius or minimus tendons at their attachment to the greater trochanter — is the primary driver of GTPS in most patients and requires a specific progressive tendon loading program for resolution.
- Piriformis syndrome — where the piriformis muscle irritates the sciatic nerve as it exits the pelvis — produces deep buttock pain with posterior thigh radiation that mimics sciatica. It is frequently missed when the lumbar spine is assumed to be the culprit.
- Snapping hip syndrome — where the iliopsoas tendon (internal) or iliotibial band (external) snaps over bony prominences — produces an audible or palpable snap with hip movement. When symptomatic, it responds well to physiotherapy addressing the contributing tightness and muscle imbalance.
- Hip adductor strain and hip flexor strain — common in football, soccer, basketball and other field sports — produce acute groin and anterior hip pain from muscular tearing. Chronic adductor tendinopathy and osteitis pubis are distinct and more persistent overuse presentations.
- Sacroiliac joint dysfunction — where the sacroiliac joints become mechanically dysfunctional — produces posterior pelvic and buttock pain that is frequently felt as hip pain and must be distinguished from true hip pathology in the assessment.
- Hip bursitis — inflammation of the bursae around the hip — can develop from direct pressure, repetitive loading or as a component of GTPS.
- Referred pain from the lumbar spine — lumbar disc herniation, facet joint syndrome and spinal stenosis all refer pain into the hip, buttock and thigh in patterns that can be confused with primary hip pathology. Assessing the lumbar spine is an essential component of every hip pain assessment.
- Total hip replacement and other hip surgeries — including labral repair and neck of femur fracture fixation — all require structured post-surgical rehabilitation that is central to achieving the best possible functional outcome.
How is hip pain diagnosed?
A physiotherapy assessment evaluates the likely pain source through specific provocation tests, hip and lumbar movement assessment, strength testing and functional analysis. Ultrasound is the most accessible imaging for tendon, bursa and soft tissue pathology. MRI provides comprehensive assessment for labral tears, stress fractures and bony pathology. X-ray identifies bony morphology changes including FAI and osteoarthritis.
How can physiotherapy help?
The rehabilitation approach is specific to the diagnosis. Gluteal strengthening — particularly the gluteus medius and deep external rotators — is central to most hip pain presentations, as weakness in these muscles is one of the most consistent findings across hip conditions. Hip flexor and adductor loading programs address the tendon conditions specific to those structures. Manual therapy improves hip joint mobility and reduces pain through neurophysiological mechanisms.
Real time ultrasound assists in retraining deep hip stabiliser activation. Clinical Pilates provides controlled hip and pelvic strengthening in a low-impact environment with precise load progression. Dry needling assists with pain management in the gluteal, hip flexor and adductor regions.
For patients whose hip condition arose from a workplace or motor vehicle injury, WorkCover and CTP funded physiotherapy is available.
Our physiotherapists Eliane Machado, Bethany Kippen and Emma Cameron all have experience in hip conditions and are members of the Australian Physiotherapy Association. Eliane's doctoral research in lower limb biomechanics is directly relevant to the movement analysis and rehabilitation planning that underpins good hip pain outcomes.
To book or find out more, call us on 07 3706 3407 or book online below. We see patients from across Brisbane's southside including Tarragindi, Coorparoo, Holland Park, Greenslopes and Mt Gravatt.
