Hip Pain Specialist

What are the causes of hip pain?

One of the leading causes of hip pain is osteoarthritis. This degenerative disease results from the effects of years of wear-and-tear on your joints that erodes the protective articular cartilage on the ends of your bones.

The exposed bones rub against each other, creating chronic inflammation and leading to pain, stiffness, weakness, and deteriorating function. Other causes of hip pain include:

Bursitis

Bursitis is inflammation of the small sacs of liquid (bursae) in your joints. Bursae help stop your bones and soft tissues from rubbing against one another, but if they suffer from overuse injuries, they can become inflamed themselves.

Tendinitis

Tendinitis is inflammation of the tendons that attach your muscles to your bones.  The most common cause of tendonitis is repetitive strain.

Labral tears

The labrum is cartilage that cushions your hip joint and helps to keep the femoral head (the ball-shaped top of your thigh bone) secure in your hip socket. Labral tears in the hip may result from an acute injury or repetitive strain.

Fractures and dislocations

Fractures are breaks in the bones, while dislocations occur when the femoral head comes away from its socket. Fractures and dislocations can be due to auto accidents and sports injuries, but they’re particularly common in older people as their bones weaken with age.

What treatments can help with hip pain?

Treatments for hip pain may vary depending on the cause of your condition and its severity. Dr. Flanagan typically creates a personalized hip pain treatment plan for you that takes these factors into account, as well as things like your age, general health, and usual activity levels.

Your treatment plan is likely to use physical therapies as its foundation. Physical therapy offers numerous benefits, including helping injuries to heal by increasing blood flow to the damaged tissues. Without physical therapy, your muscles and connective tissues are likely to shorten and atrophy, your joints stiffen, and your bones weaken.

You may benefit from certain types of medication, such as disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), if you have rheumatoid arthritis. However, Dr. Flanagan’s methods aim to keep the use of pain medications to a minimum because they simply cover up the problem while degeneration continues. You could also benefit from regenerative medicine treatments.

How does regenerative medicine help with hip pain?

Regenerative medicine treatments use naturally occurring cells and other substances to boost your body’s built-in healing processes. Dr. Flanagan uses several types of regenerative medicine to treat hip pain, including:

• Stem cell therapy
• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy
• Prolotherapy
• Viscosupplementation

In many cases, these treatments provide better long-term outcomes than alternatives such as steroid injections and surgery. If steroids could benefit your hip pain, Dr. Flanagan uses low-dose injections, which are safer and less toxic.

To get effective relief from your hip pain, call Naples Regenerative Institute today or book an appointment online.