Self Care Articles

Is this your symptom?

• Injury to the hip
• Injuries to a bone, muscle, joint or ligament
• Excluded: muscle pain caused by too much exercise or work (overuse). Covered in Hip Pain care guide.

Types of Hip Injuries

• Fractures are broken bones. They can be caused by a direct blow, twisting injuries or falls/jumps from a height, even when landing on the feet. The hip is a strong joint surrounded by thick muscles. It takes a lot of force to break the hip, unless the bone has been weakened from aging or problems such as bone cancer. Hip fractures are more common in older people who have osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) if they fall. If the hip is broken, the injured leg may look shorter than the other leg and the foot is turned out. The person may not be able to put any weight on the leg.
• Dislocations happen when a bone is pulled out of its joint socket. Dislocation of the hip is not common, but can happen in people who have had a hip replacement in the past. Dislocations can affect blood flow to the leg and need immediate care.
• Sprains are stretches and tears of ligaments. These can occur in sports injuries when ligaments around the joint are stretched and pull away from the bone they are attached to, or even snap.
• Strains are stretches and tears of muscles. These can range from minor to severe tears, causing a lot of pain, swelling and bruising.
• Muscle Overuse. Muscle pain can occur without an injury. There is no fall or direct blow. Muscle overuse is from hard work or sports.
• Muscle Bruise from a direct blow.
• Bone Bruise from a direct blow.
• Skin Injury. Examples are a cut, scrape or bruise. All are common with leg injuries.

Pain Scale

• Mild: you feel some pain, but it does not keep you from most normal activities. Work, activities and sleep are not changed.
• Moderate: the pain keeps you from doing some normal activities.  It may wake you up from sleep.
• Severe: the pain is very bad. It keeps you from doing all normal activities.