The appearance of pain in the groin is a reason for an early visit to the doctor. The sooner the cause of discomfort is determined and the treatment is prescribed, the more likely it is that the pain will go away completely.
The largest joint in the body is the hip. It constitutes the largest and longest daily load. Its main function is to provide a person with movement and maintain their balance. Pain in the hip joint complicates life, brings many worries and problems.
It is necessary to urgently consult a doctor for help if unpleasant symptoms appear. They can be caused by various diseases. Limb injuries are in the first position among the provocateurs of pain.
Less obvious factors that cause pain in the hip joint include the development of pathological processes. The main pathological causes of pain are the presence of:
- arthritis;
- osteoarthritis;
- infectious arthritis;
- inflammatory processes in tendons;
- coxarthrosis and others.
If treatment is not started at the right time, all these diseases lead to complications, degenerative processes in the joints. These changes mainly include:
- damage to the cartilage surface;
- damage to structures located near the joint;
- decrease in the amount of fluid in the joints.
Often there are no obvious causes of pain in the hip joint, and the pain does not go away and increases every day. These are signs that indicate that there is an already developed disease. To know what disease has developed, you need to visit a doctor, but if this is not possible, you can first determine the symptoms and, accordingly, the pathology itself and methods to get rid of it.
Joint injury
The most obvious causes of hip joint pain are injuries. The most common fracture is the femoral neck. It is more common because the neck is the thinnest area of the thigh. If the pain is caused by a fracture, then you should be very careful, because this condition is very dangerous. Older people are more likely to get this injury.
Hip pain caused by a fracture should only be treated under medical supervision. In advanced cases, turn to prosthetic or endoprosthetic methods.
Arthritis
This disease mostly affects the elderly. With age, the development of degenerative, dystrophic and inflammatory processes in the joints is often observed. This disease will cause pain in the hip and groin area, pain on the side of the thigh, up to the knee, may appear at night. Leaning on a leg with an injured joint, the patient feels an increase in pain, and when he gets up from a sitting position, the leg seems to spin.
Pathology is common in people in old age. During this period of life, many people can face all the degenerative, dystrophic and inflammatory processes of the joints. One of the first to undergo changes is the hip joint.
The main symptoms of arthritis are:
- limb pain;
- pain in the inguinal region, radiating to the leg, reaching the knee region;
- increased symptoms while walking;
- shooting when rising from a sitting position.
What should you do if the first signs of arthritis appear? With severe pain, elevated temperature, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should be taken. With their help, you can remove or eliminate the symptoms of the inflammatory process. Children are prescribed forms of medicines for children.
It is also necessary to give rest to the injured leg, placing it at rest. It is strictly forbidden to do any development exercises. Treatment at the beginning of the development of the disease is conservative. Prosthetic or endoprosthetic surgery is performed in advanced cases.
Coxarthrosis
Coxarthrosis (deforming arthrosis) is a common pathology. The disease appears mainly in people over 40 years old. With coxarthrosis, the first symptoms can be seen at the beginning of its development. Pain sensations appear in one or both joints, developing gradually. Coxarthrosis is divided into primary (disease of unknown origin) and secondary, the causes of which are the consequences:
- congenital hip dislocations;
- necrosis and tissue destruction of the femoral head;
- improperly formed hip joint;
- Perthes disease;
- injury;
- inflammation.
In primary coxarthrosis, the spine and knee joint can be additionally affected. Changes in the fluid that should lubricate the joint lead to the development of this disease. This causes the surface of the cartilage to dry out, resulting in roughness and cracking. There is thinning of the cartilage during friction, the bones fall under great pressure, which provokes their deformation in coxarthrosis.
The joint starts to hurt a little, but as the pathology develops, the discomfort begins to appear with increasing intensity. In the second stage of the development of the disease, severe pain appears with:
- every time you get up from a sitting position;
- upper body movements;
- the beginning of the walk;
- in the walk itself.
The pain radiates to the hip and knee area. There is a constant muscle tone in the affected area. This explains the occurrence of pain at night.
Over time, blood circulation is disturbed, which causes a slowdown in metabolism. This leads to gradual muscle atrophy. Symptoms of coxarthrosis in stages 2 and 3:
- pain in the hip joint, hip area, knee;
- limited movements;
- appearance of lameness;
- the length of the leg with the affected joint decreases;
- thigh muscle atrophy.
With coxarthrosis, pain can appear even at night. Treatment should be prescribed by a doctor after a complete examination. The sooner the patient seeks help, the better and faster the results will be achieved. They also use prosthetic and endoprosthetic methods.
When pain appears while walking, caused by arthrosis, then drug treatment is possible only in stages 1 and 2 of development. Stage 3 requires surgery. You don't have to wait for a complete cure (with the exception of arthroplasty). But it is possible to relieve discomfort and pain and stop the development of arthrosis. Medical treatment is carried out:
- pain relievers;
- anti-inflammatory;
- compresses using dimexide;
- physiotherapy.
But this treatment is not enough, complex therapy is needed. So, the doctor can prescribe massage, diet, gymnastics, taking chondroprotectors.
Tendinitis and bursitis of the trochanteric bursa
The trochanteric bursa is located on the femoral prominence. Inflammation of this part of the musculoskeletal system provokes pain in the hip joint and buttocks. If you lie on the side affected by the sac of fluid, the pain will intensify. The inflammatory process can also develop in the iliac-comb or ischial pouches, but this happens much less often. The development of the disease can begin after prosthetics and joint arthroplasty.
Tendinitis is an inflammatory process in the tendons. The risk of this pathology is in people who are subjected to regular stress. Basically, this pathology appears in athletes.
Inflammation of the tendons causes joint pain during active movements or walking. In a calm state and light loads, there may be no discomfort.
What to do when pain while walking is caused by bursitis or tendonitis should be determined by an orthopedist or traumatologist. To save the patient from these pathologies, the specialist prescribes therapy aimed at relieving inflammation. The affected limb should be given complete rest. To eliminate pain, punctures are prescribed. During the procedure, fluid is pumped out of the bag and antibiotics are injected into it.
In advanced situations, surgical intervention is necessary.
To relieve pain, if chronic pelvic pain syndrome or mild forms of the disease are observed, treatment with alternative methods will help. Keep a few Kalanchoe leaves in the refrigerator for a day, then squeeze the juice from them. Make a compress from it, which must be changed 6 times in the first days, then you can apply it only at night.
Chronic pelvic pain syndrome from bursitis is relieved by compresses made from fresh leaves of cabbage or burdock. These leaves should be applied internally to a place previously smeared with oil or cream. Then it is necessary to wrap the compress with polyethylene, wrap it with a cloth. If such treatment is carried out every day, then the inflammation will decrease after 1 to 2 months.
infections
The causes of infectious arthritis are influenza viruses, streptococci, staphylococci and other pathogens. If the pain is caused by an infectious disease, then the development of other symptoms will not take long. Pain and swelling in the area of the diseased joint will not occur. A fever may develop and pain will ache not only when walking, but also at the slightest movement. Even light touches will bring suffering.
Tuberculous arthritis, which most often affects the hip joint, causes slightly different symptoms:
- The pain first appears while walking. It is not strong, it lies in the region of the knee or in the middle of the thigh.
- After that, hip movements are limited.
- There is swelling in the area of the affected bone.
Legacy
Chronic pelvic pain syndrome is hereditary. This is Perthes disease, which is more common in boys but is much more severe in girls. The disease affects one side of the hip joint, sometimes the pain can appear in the knee.
The cause of the development of the disease is myelodysplasia (underdeveloped lumbar spinal cord). The pathology may not bother you throughout your life. But serious violations provoke various orthopedic pathologies. Perthes disease can cause such causes:
- joint inflammation;
- injury;
- increased stress on joints.
Symptoms of the disease:
- lameness;
- sharp pains without reason in the knee joint;
- pain in the hip joint;
- change in gait;
- Increase in temperature;
- blood test shows inflammation.
The treatment should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor and according to his recommendations. Patients with Perthes disease are prescribed long-term complex therapy.
Tumors
An ankle bone tumor will cause pain in the hip joint. Their nature depends on the location and quality of education in the tissue.
The causes of pain in the joint, extending to the leg, may lie in the damage to the joint itself. This includes neoplasms in muscles or bones. The intensity and area of pain manifestation is different. This is due to the nature of the tumors (benign or malignant) and their location.
When joint pain occurs, it is imperative to seek medical help, regardless of the cause that caused this symptom. After all, any articular disease in the initial stage can be cured conservatively, without resorting to surgery. But home treatment of the tumor process is unacceptable.