Why Your Hip Hurts (Each Hip Pain Explained) + What To Do

• Front hip pain from hip flexors: pain down the front, worse when lifting your knee. Usually hip flexor strain or tightness; helped by progressive strengthening.
• Front hip pain from hernia: pain at crease of leg, worse with bending, lifting, coughing, or bearing down; bulge present that worsens when standing/coughing and reduces lying down. See a doctor for this one.
• Front hip pain from referred pain: dull, hard-to-pinpoint pain without lump; coughing/sneezing doesn’t worsen it; often referred from lower back or pelvic joints. He (a chiropractor) says to see a chiropractor. We (10almonds, who like evidence-based healthcare) suggest instead to see a physio.
• Hip socket pinching pain: sharp pinch when bending knee past 90°, worse with inward rotation; structures inside hip joint affected. This is usually arthritis in middle age or older, but can be excess bone growth in youth or a labral tear at any age. Remedies vary depending on which, so see a physio to be sure.
• Outer hip pain: pain over bony lump or nearby muscles, common after activity increase, especially in women over 40; often sore to lie on at night. This one’s typically caused by tendonitis of the outer gluteal muscles; you can test it by standing on the painful leg for 30 seconds. Weak glutes are a contributing factor, so strengthening helps. He doesn’t mention this, but we’d also suggest taking care of any chronic inflammation, by adopting an anti-inflammatory diet if you haven’t already.
• Snapping hip: hip snaps/flicks with movement; usually the iliotibial band rubbing over hip. Tension release is what’s needed; see a physio.
• Back of hip pain: deep glute ache, worse with sitting or sport, sore when pressing or stretching. This may well be be piriformis syndrome (tight piriformis muscle compressing the sciatic nerve), which can cause numbness or pins and needles down leg. Physio can help with this, as can well-instructed yoga or Pilates.
• Hip pain from lower back: pain in lower back plus hip, which gets worse with movements like bending, standing, or reaching forward—strengthening glutes will take the strain off it.
• “Sitting bone” pain: pain at bony seat area of the pelvis is often a matter of hamstring tendon strain where it meets the pelvis; progressive hamstring strengthening needed
• If unsure: see a physio, but honestly, 80% of the time the answer is going to be strengthening your glutes.

For more on all of this plus visual illustrations, enjoy: