Severe hip pain

[Anonymous]

I've searched the threads and haven't really found the exact answer I am looking for, so if this question is redundant, please accept my apologies. I am hoping someone can help me with some fairly severe hip pain I am having. I understand this is a common symptom of pregnancy.

Most of the symptoms I have seen, however, seem to be related to hip pain while sleeping -- as though the hip is out of place or maybe just sore from all of that weight on it. This is not what is happening with me. Rather, I have very severe hip pain on the outside of my hip socket. It is always present, sometimes mild, often causes me to limp significantly, and sometimes gets very painful. I wouldn't call it excrutiating (in other words, it doesn't bring tears to my eyes or anything) but it is certainly negatively impacting my life. I feel that I cannot get any exercise because I'm in a lot of pain just walking short distances. Staying off my feet doesn't help, either. That is to say, it does NOT hurt when I'm sitting down, but if I've spent time sitting, it hurts just the same when I get up to walk as it does if I've been on my feet all day, or some mixture of both.

Most of what I've seen online has focused on night hip pain, but my hips feel just fine in bed. All the same, I am using pillows between my legs (I always have, even before pregnancy) and under my belly for support. I feel comfortable when I wake up in the morning, but the hip pain sets in as soon as I've been awake for a while. I also have a touch of sciatica, on the same side, and while that is something that gives me soreness, it doesn't impact me as much as the outer hip pain. As further background, I've had this hip pain before pregnancy, but never this severe. So I'm wondering if I have aggravated an old injury I was never really paying attention to in the first place?

I mentioned all of this to my doctor at my last visit and he was sympathetic and said it was most likely related to relaxin / loosening ligaments, but didn't seem to be too concerned about it; he said if the pain gets worse (I told him it was more irritating than anything else) there were a few treatment options we could pursue (I think this would involve seeing another health care specialist). Since then, I feel the pain has gotten a lot worse. I do plan to follow up with my doctor on this, but this site has been such a resource that I am hoping that some women might have some ideas for me to help mitigate the pain now, help it from getting worse, and maybe even some stretches or other things I can do that would eliminate the need to do anythting medically invasive.

I am not really into chiropractic care, but I'm willing to try it. Same goes for physical therapy, which is what I suspect my doctor is going to suggest (since I don't suppose I can get an x-ray to see what's really happening -- if there's not a 100 percent safe way to do that I'll suffer with the pain rather than take a risk). Anyway, I'd much rather focus on stretching and pro-active things I can do to help myself as a first step. Thanks for ANY advice.

[Anonymous]

Could be round ligament pain?

You can do a search for that since I know that's been discussed before.

Have you done any pre natal yoga or prenatal swimming classes? Those do great wonders.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP -- I am fairly positive this is not round ligament pain. I've had that, and it's way different. This is outside of my hip, low down, RIGHT at the socket. Honestly, i feel like it could be arthritis or my hip out of place. It's definitely related to the joint, the cartilege in the joint, or the ligaments right around the joint. Of course, all of this can be affected by the tightness around that joint as well. I've done some prenatal yoga but it hasn't really made a big difference. I feel like the stretches I need to do might need to be more specifically targeted to the injury / issue to really work.

I have not tried swimming yet, for kind of a bad reason. I am starting to think swimming, especially, could help me. I swam competitively in high school, college and was an olympic hopeful (never got there) and when I "retired" from swimming, I felt like I really needed to be done with it. There was nothing fun or enjoyable about it for me ever since then. It may be time to rethink that decision. It really is a good exercise, even though I really don't wanna go there again!

I'm also thinking a prenatal massage might help. I don't think this is a muscle issue, but I can't hurt and can only help (plus who doesn't like a massage?).

Thanks for responding.

[Anonymous]

Could it be related to sciatica??? I suffered some sciatic pain when preggo and I felt it in the buttocks AND it radiated out toward my hip?

Or it could just be bursitis . . . inflammation of the hips from carrying the extra weight of baby.

Just throwing it out there.

[Anonymous]

I had something similar with my first and - alas - am developing it now again with my second. (I'm about 24 weeks.) It's been diagnosed as "external snapping hip". There's a technical medical name as well but I don't remember it. For me, it came down to having a loose hip to begin with and then with the combination of less running and exercise and looser ligaments, it magnified. I agree it's quite painful, causing a limp, etc. The good news is that it went back to normal after DD arrived and I was able to start exercising again. Sorry you're going through this, but hope it clears up post-birth. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had something similar with my first and - alas - am developing it now again with my second. (I'm about 24 weeks.) It's been diagnosed as "external snapping hip". There's a technical medical name as well but I don't remember it. For me, it came down to having a loose hip to begin with and then with the combination of less running and exercise and looser ligaments, it magnified. I agree it's quite painful, causing a limp, etc. The good news is that it went back to normal after DD arrived and I was able to start exercising again. Sorry you're going through this, but hope it clears up post-birth. Good luck!

snapping hip -- does this infer that your hip was cracking? I left this out of my description, but when I stretch my hips, sometimes I will get a good crack and it seems to relieve some (not all) of the pain. Either way, your description sounds a lot like what I'm experiencing. May I ask you who diagnosed you and what you had to do to get the diagnosis? And if it got progressively worse? (I hope not! If it's just on and off like this, I can probably handle it better but I'm scared that this is just the beginning -- i'm about 24 weeks as well). Also, did anything help with it? Were you able to get any exercise during your pregnancy? (I really want to get out and walk around -- not today in the rain though of course -- but walking hurts so I've been really sedentary in the past few weeks, which I don't think is good). Someone mentioned swimming. EVer tried that? (Sorry for 20 Q's)

Another poster above mentioned bursitis (possibility) and radiating sciatica (I think less likely).

I do have sciatica, but this hip problem seems more like an aggravation of a previously sustained injury or problem than that. Also, the sciatica I have is only in my butt right now and is not radiating anywhere. The two pains I have (sciatica and this one) are completely different. The sciatica hurts, but feels more like a muscle overuse pain. the hip socket pain, on the other hand, leaves no doubt that something is wrong. There doesn't seem to be any connection between the two, but of course I can't be sure of that...

Thanks all...hope to get some relief soon and hope PP above does too!

[Anonymous]

So sorry - I feel your pain. Or I have felt similar pain, at least. In labor with baby #1, I pulled various muscles surrounding my sacral iliac joint - sort of where the hip and pelvis meet. I had to use a walker for 5 weeks after the birth (real bummer). The pain slowly got better and went away completely after weeks of PT and lots of good massage. BUT it came back during my current pregnancy around month 5, then went away completely when the baby shifted head down. I went back to PT when the pain re-emerged and he did some manipulations which helped a little. I reccommend seeing a good physical therapist just to get this checked out. They do not need to give you an X-ray - PT's are pretty good at poking and prodding to see how things are aligned. Give it a try!

[Anonymous]

I had this pain pre-pregnancy, and it was bursitis. Good luck -- I'm in terrible pain right now from symphisis pubis dysfunction, and it's a real drag to be in so much pain during your pregnancy. My sympathies!

[Anonymous]

I'm only 8 weeks pregnant and I'm experiencing hip pain as well. Mine does happen mostly at night, but oddly, not always when i'm sleeping on that hip but the other side. It falls asleep and feels like its burning. It hurts a little when I walk for more than a few minutes too. My biggest concern is that I fractured this hip by training for a marathon and it never really felt like it healed. I'm wondering if its related to my old injury and if it could get worse.

[Anonymous]

I'm 37 weeks and have been having persistent, terrible hip pain since around 5 months. In addition to feeling it on the outside of both hips, I also feel it around my groin muscles - when I roll over at night, I feel like I'm re-injuring some nasty groin pull. I definitely attribute it to round ligament, bursitis, relaxin and the fact that I already had very flexible hips. I've had some sciatica, but thankfully not very much. I moan, grimace and limp, too. I feel like I went from a very fit 30-something to about aged 65 overnight.

I have a small curve in my spine, which already messes with my left hip on occasion. But I teach yoga and have access to great chiros and massage therapists, so I have been able to manage it well. I am also *just* 5'1" tall and started my pregnancy weight around 110-115. Now I weigh about 150 and am carrying almost completely in the front. Why my back doesn't hurt, I dunno... but I think the pressure from the weight is what's causing my hips to feel so bad. A friend of mine recently told me that each pound of weight produces three pounds of pressure. I dunno if those numbers are right, but I'm looking at at least a 30% weight gain - that has to be felt somewhere. If I had an injury, I could certainly see it exacerbating it.

To manage it all, my doctor suggested tylenol and rest. Even though I teach yoga, I wasn't attending classes for myself regularly, because I was noticing that I felt worse when I did. I felt like I was over-stretching already taxed muscles and ligaments. I taught my yoga classes up until last week. This has been my first week off, so I've been off my feet a lot more, and have taken the time to lie down more as well. As a result, the past two days my hips do feel better. For some reason, sitting doesn't help as much as the lying down with my legs as stretched out as possible. I have one of those snoogle body pillows that allows me to prop up my belly, but it loops around so you can support your upper leg without bending at the knee and hip joints. I actually think that has been the biggest help - elongating my legs without the pressure from the weight. I have had some relief from prenatal massage, but I see someone who also has a good knowledge of acupressure.

So, that seems to be helping me - lying down and massage. I can imagine that floating around in a pool - not so much swimming, just floating, would also feel good b/c it's just getting that weight off the joints.

I get what you're going through, and I'm encouraged that it will go away once the baby arrives. But when I think about labor, I do think about whether it's going to feel worse b/c of whatever is going on in my hips and groin. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Wow, OP here. Lots of different hip problems that all sound just a little bit different but painful all around. I've done some googling and it seems like this is something that many doctors sort of shrug at in that kind of "goes with the territory" sort of way. But the more I've researched (I might have that snapping hip problem, it really does seem to fit though I don't of course rely on Dr. Google) the more it seems like pregnancy really does exacerbate old or underlying injuries. The snapping hip syndrome (and hip problems in general) seem like they can be caused by poor posture (guilty), weird gait (guilty), differences in leg shape (guilty, had several knee surgeries on my left knee, and that leg is skinnier) and is common in former ballerinas (guilty, but stopped this somewhere in my adolescence so it's not like I was a pro or anything). Add the relaxin, and you've got pain.

I work from home and have been using a sort of crappy chair (I can't even remember where I got it). This afternoon I invested in a much better and more supportive chair. I'm sitting in it right now. It's a bit harder than my old chair, but I understand that can be better. I hope it helps. Also, my hip was not as sore today as it was yesterday, and this morning I did some very gentle stretching of it and had a bath instead of a shower (slow day today, obviously!) I also iced the hip this evening. Normally I've been applying heat, but I've seen online that ice can help. Since Advil is out of the question (perhaps can help with anyone suffering postpartum?) that seems to be the best natural method of dealing with the inflammation. I sat on a heating pad last night (I'm sure you've all tried this, but if you haven't, it does seem to help. It wasn't necessarily improving anything, but maybe this could really help those of you with the night pains -- that must be dreadful, as we don't have enough to keep us awake!

I will keep posting as I find things (and talk with my doctor) that help. Would truly appreciate if you all did the same. Sounds like we're all in some variation of the same painful boat. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, my doc told me that he was fine with me taking advil every once in a while at this point in my pregnancy (I'm at 30 weeks). Your mileage may vary depending on your doc, though.

And YES, good golly does pregnancy seem to exacerbate existing hip/back issues! My ligaments were already extremely loose pre-pregnancy, so relaxin has only made them more so. It's a real task trying to get my hips to speak to one another every time I stand up these days.

[Anonymous]

I have horrible hip joint pain when I am cleaning or bending over alot. I also have had a hip just give out on my twice while lifting my 42 pound 21 month old. My leg literally gave out in the hip joint. My dr said there is so much pressure in the area it's possible that bones are rubbing or a nerve gets pinched if you put weight on the hips just the right way.

[Anonymous]

I had horrible hip pain too and got the 'it goes with the territory' speech from my OB. I've never been a believer in chiropractic but I was willing to try anything, and it was MUCH better after only 3 visits. It may be worth a shot. Just make sure you go to someone who has experience with pregnant folks. I went to Dr Noya (www.noyachiropractic.com) in Tenleytown.

[Anonymous]

I was suffering from a major pain in my left butt cheek this past week (at 35 weeks) and scheduled an appt for a prenatal massage (with Barbara at Tranquil Space - thanks to several great recommendations here on DCUM) and asked her to focus on the area. This made a huge difference in loosening up not just my lower back area, but the rest of my legs and my shoulders. All these muscles are connected, so a full body massage with focus paid to the most painful places really felt like it was the right thing for me to do. She also gave me some great suggestions:

1. it felt inflamed to her so she said to ice the area and not heat it. As a general rule of thumb, she said that if heat makes it feel better, but then the pain comes back 30 minutes later, it's likely inflamed and you should be icing. With ice, you should never keep it on more than 20 minutes, but can ice multiple times a day. I've also been told by others that it's okay to alternate heat with ice.

2. she suggested some stretches for me -- not sure if the same ones can help you, so won't repeat them here.

3. she confirmed that it was a good thing for me to be sitting on a birth ball/exercise ball during the day when I'm at work. When sitting on the ball, it's good to rock back and forth, from side to side, or in circles, like you are hula hooping. As you come closer to your due date, this will help get the baby into the ideal position for delivery.

4. There are support belts that you can buy which will help to take the pressure from the baby from weighing you down and causing the hip/back/butt pain. I'd recommend having a trained professional (i.e. a massage therapist) help you figure out what is the likely cause of the pain you are having and recommend the right kind of belt.