One of the most common physical problems you may experience as you age is hip pain. In many cases, you may be able to make changes to your lifestyle or take medications to help alleviate the pain. However, if the condition is severe, you may need to undergo a surgical procedure to correct the issue.
Causes of Hip Problems Many hip-related issues can happen due to the changes your body goes through as you age. Often you will lose muscle strength, and this can cause your bone structure to shift out of place. Medical issues such as arthritis, bursitis, fractures or tumors in your hips can cause issues in your hips as well. These problems can contribute to the wearing away of the cartilage or connective tissue in the hip joints. Without cartilage, the joint's bones will rub against each other. This can impede movement and cause pain.
Ways to Deal with Hip Pain In some cases, you may be able to reduce the pain you endure by changing your lifestyle to incorporate gentle types of movements into your daily regimen. Some good choices to help increase strength and movement in the hip area are:
- Walking - Try taking slow walks on flat surfaces on a daily basis.
- Swimming - Swimming or walking in shallow water on a regular basis can be a gentle exercise to consider.
- Yoga - Practicing Hatha yoga poses such as Child, Tree and Corpse can help open the hip area.
Adding supplements like ginger and/or fish oil to your diet can help in reducing inflammation and joint pain in your body. Getting plenty of rest after any physical activity, using ice packs or applying compression to the hip and pelvis area can also help in alleviating discomfort and pain.
If your pain is significant, you may want to consider using pain medications. Many types of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory or NSAID medications, like ibuprofen, can provide relief from the pain. Since these products may also cause other serious medical issues such as heart and liver issues, it is important to get input from your doctor before deciding to use these medications regularly.
Dealing with Severe Pain Should your issues be severe enough to impair your lifestyle, you may need to consult with orthopedic surgeons about having hip replacement surgery. Depending on your condition, the surgeon may decide to perform a total hip arthroplasty. This procedure will replace the joints at the acetabulum (near the pelvis) and the femoral (near the thigh) head.
In some situations, you may only need to have the joint near the femoral head replaced. This is called a hemiaarthroplasty. In either procedure, your natural joint will be surgically replaced with a prosthetic implant made of metal and plastic components. This can often be the best choice to correct your issues and alleviate your hip pain.
For more information, contact Town Center Orthopaedic Associates or a similar organization.
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