Pain along the outside of your hip?
There are natural solutions that can help.
Pain along the outside of the hip is common, particularly in active adults and women in midlife. You may notice pain when walking, climbing stairs, getting up from a chair, exercising, or lying on the affected side at night.
Many people are told they have hip bursitis, but pain in this area isn't always caused by inflammation of the bursa alone. A more complete term is Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS), which can involve irritation of the gluteal tendons and other tissues surrounding the outside of the hip.
At Reset Chiropractic & Wellness Center in Bloomingdale, Illinois, we look beyond the painful area itself. We evaluate the hip, spine, strength, mobility, and movement patterns to identify factors that may be placing excessive stress on the tissues on the outside of the hip.
What Is Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome?
The greater trochanter is the bony prominence on the outside of your upper thigh bone. Several important muscles and tendons attach around this area, including the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, which help stabilize the pelvis and control the hip when you walk, run, climb stairs, and stand on one leg.
Small fluid-filled sacs called bursae help reduce friction between these tissues. Pain around the greater trochanter was traditionally called trochanteric bursitis or hip bursitis. We now know that many cases also involve irritation or changes within the gluteal tendons themselves. Because several structures may contribute to the symptoms, Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome is often a more accurate description.
Why Do the Tendons and Bursa Become Irritated?
The gluteal muscles and tendons have an important job: they help control your pelvis and hip every time you take a step. Normally, these tissues adapt to the stresses placed on them. Problems can develop when the amount of stress placed on the tissues becomes greater than their current ability to tolerate it.
That can happen for several reasons.
Reduced Hip Mobility
If your hips have become stiff or have lost mobility, your body still has to find a way to accomplish everyday movements.
Walking, running, squatting, climbing stairs, and getting up from a chair may then require compensation elsewhere. In some people, this can change how forces are distributed through the hip and increase the demands placed on the muscles and tendons along the outside of the hip.
Changes in the Spine and Pelvis
The hip doesn't function independently from the rest of the body.
Changes in spinal mobility, posture, or the way the pelvis moves can influence how you load your hips during standing, walking, and exercise. This doesn't mean that posture alone causes hip bursitis. Rather, these changes may be one piece of the overall movement and loading pattern contributing to symptoms.
This is one reason we evaluate the lumbar spine and pelvis as well as the painful hip.
Other Causes of GTPS
Deconditioning and Loss of Strength
You don't have to be completely inactive to become deconditioned.
Changes in activity due to work, illness, injury, aging, or simply spending more time sitting can gradually reduce the strength and capacity of the muscles surrounding the hip.
If the gluteal muscles aren't prepared for the demands placed on them, activities that previously weren't a problem—such as longer walks, stairs, running, yard work, travel, or a new exercise program—may suddenly become too much.
Too Much, Too Soon
GTPS can also occur in active people. Increasing your running mileage, walking farther than usual, starting a new workout program, adding hills or stairs, or suddenly increasing the amount of time you're on your feet can expose the hip to more load than it has had time to adapt to.
In these situations, the problem isn't necessarily that the activity is bad for you. The tissues simply weren't prepared for that amount of activity yet.
Compression of the Outside of the Hip
The gluteal tendons can also be compressed against the greater trochanter in certain positions.
This is one reason symptoms are often worse when lying directly on the painful side. Certain standing, sitting, sleeping, and movement positions may also increase compression of already sensitive tissues.
Over time, a combination of repetitive loading and compression can contribute to persistent pain around the outside of the hip.
What Does Hip Bursitis or GTPS Feel Like?
Symptoms commonly include:
- Pain or tenderness on the outside of the hip
- Pain when lying on the affected side
- Hip pain while walking or running
- Pain going up or down stairs
- Discomfort after prolonged standing or walking
- Pain when getting up from a chair
- Pain with certain exercises or workouts
- Pain that may travel down the outside of the thigh
Symptoms can gradually develop over time or begin after a change in activity, training volume, walking, running, exercise, or other physical demands.
How We Evaluate Outside Hip Pain
At Reset Chiropractic & Wellness Center, treatment begins with determining what is contributing to your symptoms rather than simply treating the painful spot.
Your evaluation may include assessment of:
- Hip range of motion and flexibility
- Hip and gluteal strength
- Lumbar spine mobility and posture
- Pelvic and lower-extremity movement
- Balance and stability
- Walking, squatting, or other movements related to your symptoms
- Activities or positions that reproduce your pain
Pain felt at the hip can also sometimes originate from the lumbar spine or other structures, so determining the likely source of the symptoms is an important part of the examination.
We use a test–treat–retest approach to help determine which findings are meaningful and whether treatment is changing the way you move and feel.
Treatment for Hip Bursitis and Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome
The goal of treatment isn't simply to calm down an irritated bursa or tendon.
We also want to identify and address the factors that may have caused the tissues to become overloaded in the first place. Treatment depends on the findings of your examination and may include a combination of hands-on care and progressive rehabilitation.
Chiropractic and Manual Therapy
When restrictions in the hip, pelvis, lumbar spine, or surrounding tissues are contributing to the problem, chiropractic care and manual therapy may be used to improve mobility and help restore more comfortable movement.
Treatment is individualized based on your examination rather than automatically treating the same areas in every person with hip pain.
Dry Needling
Dry needling may be used when muscle tension, trigger points, or other soft-tissue findings around the hip are contributing to pain or limiting movement.
Depending on your examination, dry needling may be used to address muscles around the hip and pelvis as part of a broader treatment plan. It is typically combined with mobility work and progressive exercise rather than used as a stand-alone treatment.
Rehabilitation and Exercise
Progressive exercise is an important part of managing many cases of GTPS because ultimately we want the hip to become more capable of handling load, not simply less painful.
Treatment may focus on gradually improving:
- Gluteal strength and endurance
- Hip stability
- Pelvic and lower-extremity control
- Hip mobility
- Trunk strength and control
- Balance
- Tolerance for walking, running, exercise, and daily activities
As symptoms improve, we gradually increase the demands placed on the hip so the muscles and tendons become better prepared for the activities you want to return to.
Radial Shockwave Therapy
For persistent tendon-related lateral hip pain, radial shockwave therapy may be incorporated into a broader rehabilitation program when clinically appropriate.
Shockwave therapy does not replace exercise and progressive loading. Instead, it may be used alongside rehabilitation to help manage persistent symptoms while we work on improving the hip's strength, mobility, and capacity.
Activity Modification
Complete rest isn't always the answer.
In many cases, we help patients identify movements, positions, or training loads that are aggravating the hip and temporarily modify them while gradually rebuilding tolerance.
Even simple changes—such as sleeping position, exercise selection, walking volume, or how the hip is loaded during daily activities—can make a difference.
The long-term goal is generally not to avoid activity, but to build enough strength and capacity to comfortably return to it.
FAQ
Do I Need Imaging for Hip Pain?
Not everyone with outside hip pain needs an X-ray or MRI.
Your history and physical examination can often provide enough information to begin conservative treatment. Imaging or referral may be appropriate when symptoms don't respond as expected, the diagnosis is unclear, there has been significant trauma, or examination findings suggest another condition.
Can I Still Exercise With Hip Bursitis?
Often, yes. The goal is usually to find the appropriate amount and type of activity rather than stopping everything. Some activities may need to be temporarily reduced or modified, while others can continue. As symptoms improve, exercises and activity can progressively become more challenging. Our goal is to help you return to walking, running, strength training, recreational activities, and everyday life with greater confidence.
Hip Pain Treatment in Bloomingdale, IL
Reset Chiropractic & Wellness Center provides evaluation and rehabilitation for hip pain, including hip bursitis and Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome, at our Bloomingdale office.
We regularly work with patients from Bloomingdale, Roselle, Medinah, Itasca, and surrounding communities who want to stay active and address the factors contributing to their pain.
If pain on the outside of your hip is interfering with sleeping, walking, exercising, or the things you enjoy doing, schedule an evaluation to determine what's contributing to your symptoms and what you can do about it.
