Hip Impingement – What Is It & What To Do?

In the previous article that I wrote, I talked about hip pain that is experienced by swimmers. One of those condition that I mentioned was hip impingement. It is one of the more common hip condition which can affect you in many of your sporting activities. This article will discuss hip impingement in further detail.

What is Hip Impingement?

Hip impingement is a condition where there is abnormal and wearing contact between the ball and socket of the hip joint. The result is increased friction during hip movements that may damage the joint.

Many “normal” people have the potential to get hip impingement. This is because one of its biggest contributing factor to hip impingement is the shape of ball and socket joint. However, for this to be a problem, there needs to be something that provokes the irritation at the joint.Therefore, this condition is more commonly seen in active individuals who do sports. Also, a certain weakness in their hip stability or core muscle stability is usually present, which also explains why their hip gets irritated.

What are the symptoms?

• Hip and groin pain with restricted range of hip motion.
• Symptom onset can be acute, following injury, or insidious after prolonged exertion. 
• Pain is often provoked with prolonged sitting, walking, crossing the legs as well as during and after sport and exercise. 
• Restriction in hip flexion and internal rotation range of motion. 
• Pain deep in the groin at the front of the hip, more rarely it can be on the side of the hip or the buttock.

What are the treatments?

Conservative treatment with physiotherapy can be very effective in treating hip impingement. Treatments may include:

• Mobilisation of the hip joint structures
• Improve flexibilty and muscle length of the hip
• Improve hip muscle strength
• Strengthen dynamic hip stability

Because of the mechanical nature of the condition, physiotherapy may not be effective if the shape of the ball and socket joint is overly deep. In this case, surgery may be the better option for you. Recovery from the surgery usually take about 4 months or more depending on the type of surgery and technique that was used. During this rehabilitation period, it is important that patients remain committed to doing their rehabilitation exercises at physiotherapy.We hope that you have a better understanding of hip impingement after reading this article. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us. Below, we have included a video of a quick exercise  to improve you hip strength. For more videos like that, check out our channel.https://youtu.be/GapJ8XRiDmA