Know when a sore hip needs an exam

Get urgent help for warning signs

Get emergency care for sudden severe soreness with fever and a hot, swollen joint. Those signs can mean an infection inside the joint.

After a fall, seek prompt care if you can't bear weight. A fracture can hide even when the first X-ray looks normal.

New leg weakness, spreading numbness, or loss of bladder or bowel control also needs emergency care. Pressure on a nerve can harm how the leg or bladder works.

Night soreness needs faster review when changing position doesn't help. Unexplained weight loss or a cancer history makes that review more important.

Book a regular visit for lasting soreness

Arrange a visit when soreness keeps returning or changes your walk, sleep, or balance. A growing limit often matters more than one painful afternoon.

The exam may check hip motion, strength, walking, the back, and the nerves. Each check helps locate the tissue causing the soreness.

An X-ray may show joint wear, yet the image doesn't always match how you feel. The exam and your symptoms help put the X-ray in context.

Tell your own doctor about earlier falls, procedures, and long-term medicine use. Those details can change which tests are sensible.

Bring details that make the visit useful

Write where the soreness starts, where it travels, and which movements bring it on. Include what eases it and how long relief lasts.

List your medicines, past hip care, fevers, weakness, numbness, and night symptoms. You won't have to remember everything while you're sore.

Name the task you most want to regain. That may be sleeping, getting into the car, or walking through a store.

Bring earlier images if they are easy to obtain, but don't delay urgent care for them. QC Kinetix can examine your hip and explain regenerative treatments, meaning non-surgical clinic choices that may fit your needs.

Sources

1. A propensity-matched cohort of 3710 patients found the cumulative incidence of osteonecrosis of the femoral head after an intra-articular hip injection was essentially identical for corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid (2.9% vs 3.0% at 2 years; HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.59-1.84, p=0.88), suggesting that osteonecrosis observed after corticosteroid injection often reflects the natural course of the underlying disease rather than the drug.

   Varady NH, et al. — Comparing the Risk of Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head Following Intra-Articular Corticosteroid and Hyaluronic Acid Injections.. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am), 2022. DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.21.01043.

2. NICE guideline NG226 (2022) covers the diagnosis, assessment and non-surgical management of osteoarthritis in people over 16 across the UK NHS, replacing CG177. It is the reference point for the therapeutic-exercise-first model used in most guideline-concordant OA care.

   National Institute for Health and Care Excellence — Osteoarthritis in over 16s: diagnosis and management (NG226).. NICE, 2022.

3. In a double-blind RCT of 80 patients with chronic gluteal tendinopathy, a single ultrasound-guided intratendinous PRP injection produced a significantly better modified Harris Hip Score at 12 weeks than a single corticosteroid injection (74.05 vs 67.13, P=.048), with 82% versus 56.7% reaching the minimal clinically important difference.

   Fitzpatrick J, et al. — The Effectiveness of Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections in Gluteal Tendinopathy: A Randomized, Double-Blind Controlled Trial Comparing a Single Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection With a Single Corticosteroid Injection.. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018. DOI: 10.1177/0363546517745525.

4. UK FASHIoN, a 348-patient pragmatic multicentre RCT, found hip arthroscopy improved hip-related quality of life more than a personalised physiotherapist-led programme at 12 months (adjusted mean iHOT-33 difference 6.8, 95% CI 1.7-12.0; p=0.0093), just exceeding the 6.1-point minimum clinically important difference. Both groups improved substantially, and five of six serious adverse events in the surgical arm were treatment-related.

   Griffin DR, et al. — Hip arthroscopy versus best conservative care for the treatment of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (UK FASHIoN): a multicentre randomised controlled trial.. The Lancet, 2018. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31202-9.