Hip Impingement is a common issue.  This typically occurs when the tendons in the hip become inflamed, which thicken the tendons, and begin to get caught in the hip joint while moving and sometimes while sedentary.  This issue can occur from different problems in the hip.  You can have hip impingement from a basic pelvic or hip imbalance, sometimes seen from overuse of the hip muscles, and there are instances of this happening when there is damage to the hip joint – arthritis, ligament damage, cartilage damage.

Symptoms of hip impingement can range from general ache/dull pain, sharp pain, and most commonly a pinching pain in the hip.  People will notice that over time with the pain they begin to notice weakness and soreness in the muscles of the hip.  This can cause restriction of movement, pain on movement, pain while walking, sitting to standing, inability to run from pain and weakness.  Over time if left untreated this issue can progress further causing more severe pain as well as weakening of the tendons and ligaments leading to possibilities of larger damage such as tendon and ligament tears as well as labrum injuries.

The best course of action for this issue is to seek professional care to properly evaluate and diagnose this issue.  Once diagnosed properly, one can then build a treatment plan that best suits the injuries needs.  Our main goals with hip impingement is to decrease the inflammation and pain in the hip, which allows for relief and the next step in treatment.  After the pain and inflammation are under control we would begin to improve mobility and stability of the hip area to bring balance back to the muscles and joint.  And finally, we would strengthen the area to help improve overall function as well as prevent further and future injury from occurring.