SPINE CONDITION
Hip Pain
Hip pain has a way of slowing your stride — the walk you used to take without a second thought, stairs you used to climb without wincing, a full night's sleep without an ache waking you up. It can come from the labrum, cartilage, tendons, or bursa that make up your hip. You may brush it off as "just getting older" but small changes can be the starting point of arthritis in a few years, and treating it upstream of an end-stage hip can change the trajectory and prevent the need for surgery or joint replacement. At Wellward, we look for and treat the root cause earlier than traditional care to preserve hip function and prevent other problems — back or knee pain — from compounding.
Does This Sound Familiar?
Hip pain can feel like a deep ache in your groin, a sharp catch when you stand up from sitting, or a burning soreness on the outside of your hip that makes lying on that side impossible. It can show up as a limp you didn't notice you'd picked up.
It doesn't just change how you move. It changes how far you walk, how you sleep, whether you take the stairs or find the elevator. When you start avoiding ordinary things because your hip might not cooperate, it's time to get answers.
If several of the statements feel familiar, the next step is not guessing. It may be time for a more complete evaluation of what is actually driving your pain.
Do you…
If several of these feel familiar, the next step isn't guessing — it's a real answer.
- Feel a catch or pinch in your groin standing up from a low chair or getting out of a car?
- Avoid lying on one side at night because of soreness on the outside of your hip?
- Notice a limp, or catch yourself favoring one leg on stairs?
- Feel your hip stiffen up after sitting for a while, then loosen as you keep walking?
- Feel like no one has fully explained why you feel as bad as you do?
What Causes Hip Pain?
Hip pain can come from many places. An old injury, years of running or repetitive impact, or simple wear on the joint surfaces can quietly overload your hip — until one day something tips over into pain that won't let up.
Once that happens, your body starts protecting itself: shifting your weight, favoring your other leg, changing your stride. That's a smart short-term response, but over time it just moves the load somewhere else — often into your knee or your low back. And confusingly, where you feel it may not be where the real problem is.
Bursa
The fluid-filled cushion over the outside of your hip. Irritation here is one of the most common, earliest, and most treatable sources of hip pain.
Tendons
The tendons that lift your leg and stabilize your pelvis with every step. Repetitive strain here causes aching that's often mistaken for "just" bursitis.
Labrum
The cartilage rim that deepens your hip socket. Tears here make the joint less stable, which accelerates wear on everything around it.
Ligaments
The structures that hold your femur snugly in its socket. When lax or injured, the joint "wiggles" more than it should, wearing down the joint surfaces faster.
Cartilage
The smooth buffer between your femoral head and hip socket. Once the joint is unstable, cartilage erodes faster than it can recover.
Bone & Bone Marrow
When cartilage wears thin, the bone underneath can bruise — blocking the nutrients cartilage needs to repair itself and accelerating the decline.
Joint Capsule
Can thicken and tighten, especially after injury or a period of favoring the hip, steadily limiting motion.
Related Conditions
It often starts small — a sore spot on the outside of your hip after a long walk, a catch in your groin you shrug off. Left alone, that same instability can wear down the labrum and cartilage, bruise the bone underneath, and eventually stiffen into arthritis. The conditions below are less a menu of unrelated problems than different chapters of that same story, caught at different points.
Hip Pain
General pain, stiffness, or dysfunction in the hip.
Hip Bursitis (Trochanteric Bursitis)
Soreness on the outside of the hip, worse lying on that side.
Sit-bone bursitis (Ischial Bursitis)
Soreness on your "sit bone," made worse by sitting on hard surfaces or even an uncomfortable chair.
Hip Labral Tear
A catch or pinch in the groin, often worse pivoting or sitting for long periods.
Hip Impingement (FAI)
Groin pain from extra bone or a misshapen joint pinching with certain movements.
Hip Flexor or Gluteal Tendinopathy
Aching at the front or side of the hip, worse with repetitive activity.
Hip Arthritis
Deep, grinding stiffness that limits how far you can move your hip.
Hip Instability
A hip that feels loose or gives way, sometimes following an injury.
Snapping Hip Syndrome
An audible or felt snap over the hip with certain movements, sometimes painful.
How Wellward Evaluates Hip Pain
A hip that hurts in the groin, the side, or the low back can all point to the same joint — so we don't stop at where it hurts. Every plan is built on four things:
Your Story
What movements bring it on, what you've already tried, and what getting your stride back would mean for your life.
Movement & Load
How you walk, squat, and climb stairs — and which specific movements reproduce your pain.
Structure & Imaging
We review your imaging in context, and when we need a closer look at your labrum, cartilage, or tendons, live ultrasound [→ /diagnostics/ (Diagnostic Ultrasound)] lets us see it directly.
Pain Mapping
Groin pain, outer-hip pain, and referred back pain can all look alike on paper, so we test each possible structure directly [→ /diagnostics/ (Pain Mapping)] with targeted diagnostic injections until we know exactly which one is responsible.
Treatment Pathways
Once Pain Mapping tells us what's actually wrong, your plan follows from that — not a standard hip protocol.
Conservative
Rehab, hands-on manual therapy [→ /manual-movement-based-therapies/], and targeted strengthening resolve a lot of hip pain on their own. When more is needed, we add bursa injections, joint injections, or nerve blocks [→ /interventional-pain/] to calm things down and get you back on your feet. For tendons that have scarred down and stopped responding to rehab, a tenotomy — using a small probe to break up that scar tissue without open surgery — can jumpstart healing without going under the knife.
Regenerative
For the right candidate, we draw and prepare your own cells in-house, same day, and pair them with PRP and other orthobiologic injections [→ /regenerative-therapies/] to calm inflammation and support your hip's natural repair process. It isn't right for every diagnosis, which is why it's only offered once your evaluation confirms it's a genuine fit.
What Patients Experience
Real stories. Real outcomes.
Patient testimonial will be placed here.
Patient testimonial will be placed here.
Broader Support When Pain Goes Deeper
When hip pain is persistent or life feels limited, additional support can help.
Warrior Program
Advanced support for complex tissue, nervous system sensitization, and persistent pain.
Pain Coaching
One-on-one coaching to build resilience, improve habits, and restore confidence.
Neural Reset Program
A science-based program to calm the nervous system and reduce chronic pain signals.
Surgery or Urgent Evaluation
In some cases, surgery or urgent evaluation may be the safest or most appropriate path. We will help you understand all options
Common Questions About Hip Pain
Most new patients can schedule a discovery call within one business day. We know how derailing pain can be, so we work hard to get you seen within a week.
It depends on your diagnosis and what's recommended. Diagnostic and conservative care is often covered by insurance, while some regenerative and stem cell therapies are not. We'll walk through your options and costs on your discovery call, so there are no surprises before you start.
Yes. Imaging is a helpful piece of the picture, but it doesn't always explain pain. Some painful structures don't show clearly on MRI, and some MRI findings — like mild labral fraying — show up in people with no symptoms at all. That's why we don't rely on imaging alone — it's one input into Pain Mapping, not the whole answer.
It depends on how advanced the arthritis is. Earlier-stage hip arthritis often responds well to regenerative approaches, while more advanced, bone-on-bone arthritis may need a different pathway. Your evaluation determines which stage you're actually in.
Groin pain usually points to the joint itself — the labrum, cartilage, or the ball-and-socket joint — while pain on the outside of your hip more often comes from the tendons or bursa nearby. They can overlap, which is exactly why Pain Mapping tests both instead of assuming.
Usually only when there's significant labral or cartilage damage, advanced arthritis, or when conservative and regenerative care genuinely hasn't moved the needle. Every case is different, and we'll be straight with you about which one you're in.
Usually only when there's significant labral or cartilage damage, advanced arthritis, or when conservative and regenerative care genuinely hasn't moved the needle. Every case is different, and we'll be straight with you about which one you're in.
Ready to Understand What Is Driving Your Hip Pain?
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Ready to Find Out What's Really Driving Your Hip Pain?
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