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Hip joint: pain and treatment
Hip joint: pain and treatment
Hip joints play a leading role in human locomotion. It is on them that the motor abilities of the lower limbs, smoothness of gait, and freedom of movement when walking depend. This organ is the largest in the system. It has a great deal of responsibility and therefore undergoes the strongest physical stresses, carrying the weight of the body, allowing it to move.
Cartilage is a shock absorber that functions during the bending process of the joint, where the cavity contains the so-called joint fluid. It plays the role of lubrication of bone surfaces for painless functioning of the organ. Over the course of life, against the background of various bone diseases, there is a thinning of cartilage tissues, a decrease in the volume of fluid. This leads to painful syndrome. Although not always only old age is the cause of hip joint soreness. There are many cases of this disease even in young people.
Classification
Hip joint pain can have a different character: acute, localised, chronic aching, and so on. Irradiation can occur in different parts of the body - groin, buttocks, thigh zone of the leg, lower abdomen, knees. The causes of pain before the age of 45 may be leg injuries, such diseases as osteoarthritis, aseptic necrosis, coxarthrosis, pathologies in the lumbar spine, etc.
There are two classifications of pain syndrome: by duration (chronic aching or acute) and by localisation (local or irradiating).
Acute pain is short-term. It is characteristic of traumatic conditions. It can also occur in rapidly developing joint diseases. But it is the acute nature of pain that makes the patient turn to a doctor. With timely medical care and initiated therapy, it is possible to avoid the spread of pain syndrome and the development of complications.
Aching pain is characteristic of chronic diseases. It appears and increases, as a rule, during active movements, physical exertion (fitness classes, prolonged walking, jogging, etc.). The character of chronic pain is moderately intense, disappearing for a while and arising again. Over time, if you do not consult a doctor, the movement of the limb becomes increasingly limited, stiff, difficult. Self-treatment most often leads to complications.
Pain with a clear localisation or irrediating to the groin area, lower abdomen, knee joint may develop against the background of osteoarthritis. Such pain is characterised by intensification when leaning on the injured limb.
Diagnosis
Before the specialist doctor prescribes the appropriate therapy, diagnostic studies are carried out. The complex includes:
- Radiographs;
- CT or MRI (performed for the joint itself and the femur);
- X-ray, CT or MRI of the spine;
- Laboratory tests.
Radiography of the hip joint is one of the key diagnostic methods. It makes it possible to assess the condition of the bone tissues of the joint, the width of the articular gap. Deviations from the norm are direct evidence of disorders or pathological changes in the cartilage and the joint itself.
Therapeutic methods
The main goal of hip joint therapy is to eliminate the painful syndrome and improve the quality of life of the patient, improving motor ability. Treatment is complex. It involves medical specialists: rehabilitation specialist, orthopaedic traumatologist, physiotherapist and others.
The main types of therapy are:
- Conservative;
- Manual;
- Therapeutic blockades;
- Physiotherapy, therapeutic exercise;
- Radiofrequency joint denervation (RFD);
- Prosthetics.
The therapeutic methods are always selected on an individual basis. It takes into account the causative factors of the disease, the intensity of pain, possible contraindications, and the patient's reactions to medications.
Therapeutic blockades belong to an invasive group of therapeutic methods. They involve the injection of anaesthetic drugs into the area of spasmed muscles or peripheral nerve. The blockade relieves spasms, pain, relaxes muscles, normalises blood flow and improves tissue trophism.
RFD is an absolutely safe non-surgical method of hip joint therapy. It is suitable for those for whom other methods are contraindicated. The procedure is performed on an outpatient basis. It uses special needles that are inserted into the areas where the small sensitive nerves of the hip joint pass under ultrasound control. Then a local anaesthetic is injected. And through the channel of the needle itself - the thinnest electrode. The tip of the needle is heated to a predetermined temperature. During the procedure, the patient not only experiences no painful sensations, but even minor discomfort.
