Question 1

How do I know if my hip pain is serious?

Accepted Answer

Most hip pain isn’t serious and is caused by overworked or strained muscles or soft tissues — in other words, doing too much too quickly. You should be more concerned if your pain started after a fall or unexpected impact, if you’re having trouble putting weight on your leg or it feels unstable, or if you have a history of stress fractures. Other troublesome signs could be that the pain radiates down your leg, doesn’t get better with at-home remedies, or gets worse after doing your usual day-to-day activities. If you experience any of these, see your doctor to examine whether there’s a more serious underlying structural cause of your pain.

Question 2

Is it okay to run with hip pain?

Accepted Answer

Generally yes, but it really depends. If your hip pain is the result of many hours of sitting at work, for example, running may be a great activity for you. If the pain is new, you don’t want to stop movement altogether, but it’s okay to be cautious and walk, bike, or cross-train for a few days. It’s also important to be mindful of stress fractures and relative energy deficiency in sport (or RED-S), which means you aren’t taking in enough energy to match what you expend in your workouts. It’s common among athletes, especially endurance athletes.

Pain is your body’s alarm system, so it’s a signal to pause and evaluate what’s going on. Is your pain better or worse after you get moving? Maybe you can incorporate more strength and cross-training. The sooner you can make adjustments to meet your body where it’s at, the sooner you can ease back into your normal exercise routine, even if you aren’t pain-free yet.

Hip pain after running: how to treat it, according to physical therapists

Learn what causes hip pain in runners, at-home remedies to treat it, including strengthening and stretching exercises from physical therapists.

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Fully covered hip pain relief

Exercises for hip pain

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