Hip Bursitis - Symptom vs Cause

Very often a patient will come to us with pain in the buttocks, and a diagnosis of bursitis of the hip. They, frequently, have seen several other providers and had injections, taken medications, done stretches and strengthened their glutes. But still, they are plagued by hip pain and cannot get through their day or sleep comfortably.

Our approach, especially with hip bursitis, is to not jump on treatment for the bursitis at all. Bursitis, like many musculoskeletal complaints, does not just develop spontaneously. It is a secondary issue.

In fact, according to recent research, the pain is very often misdiagnosed and is not bursitis at all but damage to the tendon of one of the gluteus muscles. No wonder it keeps coming back!

Very often the primary problem lies in the joints in the low back, the lumbar facets, and the joints below them, the sacroiliac joints. Stiffness in those particularly critical areas leads to tight and painful buttocks including the gluteus medias and piriformis muscles.

Walking, or running, or even sitting with this cluster of reduced joint mobility and tight muscles turns the leg, injury the gluteus tendon and allowing irritation of the trochanteric bursa at the hip. And that becomes a real pain in the butt!

We have found that that shots and medicine will calm down the pain and inflammation, for a while. But it comes back.

We use the period after the shot, as a therapeutic window of opportunity, to apply manual therapy, chiropractic adjustments and specific exercise prescription to correct all that dysfunction and prevent recurrence altogether. It is common for us to treat hip pain and avoid the shots altogether!

If you have bursitis or are afraid it is developing with stiffness and pain when you walk, sit, or lay down, give us a call.