Hip Pain

If hip pain affects your daily life, we’re here to help. Our specialists offer the latest hip pain treatments, including hip preservation to help you avoid more extensive surgery when possible.

As mid-Missouri’s only academic health system, MU Health Care offers innovative solutions for hip pain not found at many centers. Here, you’ll find orthopaedic surgeons specializing in hip care. You’ll also have access to nonsurgical and surgical hip preservation treatment options that may help you avoid or delay future joint replacements. 

If a hip replacement is the best option, we offer minimally invasive options to support a faster recovery.

When to Seek Care for Hip Pain

Different joint conditions can cause aching, throbbing, stabbing or shooting pain in and around your hip. No matter what type of pain you’re experiencing, we’re here to support you. 

Specifically, our team can help if you have: 

• Pain that extends beyond your hip to your leg, groin or back
• Pain that keeps you up at night
• Pain that won’t go away with rest or over-the-counter pain relievers
• Pain when you climb stairs, walk, exercise or perform other daily activities
• Redness or swelling in your hip

Second Opinions for Hip Pain

If your current treatment isn’t managing your hip pain, we may be able to offer more effective approaches. You may also be a candidate for alternatives to hip replacement. For example, we offer advanced options like hip preservation treatments, including procedures to regenerate hip tissue.

Causes of Hip Pain

Causes of hip pain include:

• Labral tears, which are tears in the cartilage around the hip socket, sometimes caused by accidents or sports injuries.
• Hip dysplasia, a condition in which your hip joint doesn’t develop properly.
• Hip impingement, also called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), which occurs when the shape of the ball and socket cause the ball to crush the labrum and cartilage, leading to labral tears and cartilage damage because there's less space in the front of the hip with hip flexion.
• Tendonitis, which are tendons inflamed by overuse.
• Fractures, which may be caused by overuse, osteoporosis or a traumatic injury, such as from a fall or car accident.
• Spine issues, such as pinched nerves from herniated discs.
• Osteonecrosis (avascular necrosis), or “dead bone” in the hip joint.
• Hip arthritis, including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
• Infections in the hip, such as septic arthritis.
• Musculoskeletal tumors, such as sarcomas. 

Seeking expert care is the first step to understanding the cause of your hip pain. At MU Health Care, our hip specialists have expertise in diagnosing and treating hip pain resulting from all types of causes. Whether your hip pain is due to arthritis or a rare condition, our doctors want to help you find relief.

How We Diagnose Hip Pain at MU Health Care

When you have a hip pain consultation at MU Health Care, our team will conduct a thorough medical history review and examination. We’ll also ask you detailed questions to better understand how your hip pain is affecting your daily life.

You may also have tests, such as:

• X-rays to determine if the source of pain is your hip or spine
• Blood tests to diagnose infections or diseases that cause hip pain
• Ultrasounds for muscle tendon evaluation or injections
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to detect issues with soft tissues, such as labral tears
• Computed tomography (CT) scans to diagnose impingement, tumors and other issues 

We may also order a steroid injection to help determine if the pain source is your hip or another area. 

After reviewing your results, we’ll work with you on a personalized plan that reflects your specific needs and goals.

How We Treat Hip Pain at MU Health Care

Because hip pain has a range of sources — from workouts to infections to anatomical issues — a team approach works best. As an academic health system, we have a wide range of specialists across different fields that we can assemble for your care team. Our experts include orthopaedic surgeons, sports medicine specialists, physical therapists, rehabilitation experts, weight loss specialists, dietitians and others. 

Factors we consider when building a personalized treatment plan include: 

• How long you have had hip pain
• The cause of your hip pain
• What hip pain treatments you have already tried
• Your age
• Your activity level
• Your overall health
• Your treatment goals and preferences

Nonsurgical Treatments for Hip Pain

Many people find effective hip pain relief without surgery. At MU Health Care, you have access to most nonsurgical treatments all in one place, including:

• Anti-inflammatory medications, with prescriptions easily picked up at our on-site pharmacy locations.
• Joint injections, which may involve steroid medications or platelet rich plasma (PRP). PRP is a biologic therapy made from your own blood that can help improve pain and function.
• Lifestyle management through our Joint Health Program, which uses a team-based treatment approach that includes physical therapists, dietitians, psychologists and other specialists.
• Physical therapy (PT), available on-site to strengthen muscles and reduce pain. We also offer blood flow restriction therapy, a specialized type of PT for faster muscle rehabilitation that is not available at other hospitals in mid-Missouri.
• Weight loss support, which can help reduce many types of hip pain.

Hip Preservation Surgery

Hip preservation can help many younger people with hip pain postpone — and sometimes avoid — joint replacement.

MU Health Care offers advanced hip preservation procedures that aren’t available at other hospitals in mid-Missouri, such as:

• Arthroscopy: A minimally invasive surgery to repair damage within the hip joint like labral tears.
• Labral reconstruction: A procedure to replace the labrum when it's too damaged to be repaired.
• Cartilage transplants: Address cartilage damage from injury, wear and tear, and avascular necrosis.
• Hip osteotomy: Surgery done to reposition the bones that affect the hip joint. It can help treat hip dysplasia and hip impingement.

For complex preservation surgeries, multiple surgeons specializing in different procedures may work together to personalize your treatment and target the specific cause of your hip pain.

Hip Replacement Surgery

If you have severe hip arthritis, a hip fracture or other serious ailment, you may benefit from a hip replacement (hip arthroplasty).

Not sure if hip replacement is an option for you? If you have chronic hip pain that affects your quality of life, we can help you find the right path forward.

Take this quick test to find out if you're a candidate.

Our team has the expertise and tools to perform most replacements less invasively. We also specialize in hip revisions for pain resulting from a previous hip replacement that has been damaged or become infected.

Why Choose MU Health Care for Hip Pain Care

• Hip preservation expertise and research: From injections to minimally invasive arthroscopy to bone correction surgery, we offer a range of alternatives to hip replacement. Many preservation treatments are only found at academic health systems like MU Health Care. Our team also leads research on osteochondral allografts and labral reconstructions, some of the latest advances for hip pain.
• Focus on your bone and joint health: If you’ve had a hip fracture from osteoporosis, experts in our Bone Health Program offer treatments to manage your pain. We also have a Joint Health Program that offers a long-term approach to help you maintain joint function. Both programs are personalized to your specific lifestyle, health and goals.
• Hip replacement excellence: We have earned national recognition for our care and support for hip replacement patients throughout their treatment. MU Health Care is a Certified Hip and Knee Replacement Center of Excellence from the independent certification provider DNV. This certification means we have achieved the highest standards in care before, during and after hip replacement.