What causes hip pain in women?

The structure of the hip joint is relatively complex, and there are many reasons that cause hip pain in women. In addition to osteoarthritis, ischemic necrosis of the femoral head cannot be ignored. In addition, ankylosing spondylitis and lumbar disc herniation are prone to cause such symptoms, so you must go to the hospital for examination in time and then receive regular treatment.

1. Hip osteoarthritis:

It is caused by degeneration and damage of the hip joint cartilage, with clinical manifestations of joint pain and inflexibility. The primary cause is aging, and the secondary causes include long-term unreasonable posture and movement, congenital joint developmental abnormalities, trauma and drugs. As the disease progresses, repeated movements of the hip joint can cause bone degeneration and hyperplasia in the femoral head and acetabulum. The narrowing of the hip joint space can cause friction between the articular cartilage and lead to varying degrees of cartilage damage.

2. Avascular necrosis of the femoral head:

It is a common and difficult-to-treat disease in orthopedics. Due to the damage or interruption of blood supply to the femoral head, bone cells and bone marrow components die, followed by bone collapse, hip pain and dysfunction. The causes of the disease can be divided into two categories: traumatic and non-traumatic. The traumatic cause is mainly caused by hip trauma such as hip fracture and dislocation. The main cause of non-traumatic disease in my country is the irrational use of glucocorticoids and long-term alcoholism. The clinical manifestations include pain in the hip joint and posterior buttocks, limited hip joint movement, and inability to freely perform hip abduction and external rotation movements. There are no obvious changes in early X-rays, and MRI examinations can often help diagnose early lesions. In late-stage patients, imaging examinations will show obvious collapse of the femoral head, hyperplasia of the hip joint edge, and fusion or disappearance of the joint space. Some patients have neither a history of hip trauma nor a history of alcoholism or glucocorticoid use, and suffer from idiopathic avascular necrosis of the femoral head.

3. Ankylosing spondylitis:

Its early symptoms often include pain in the lower back, buttocks and hips, and joint stiffness. The pain often worsens during rest and inactivity, accompanied by stiffness in the hip and sacroiliac joints in the morning. It is common in young and middle-aged men, and often affects both sacroiliac joints and hip joints simultaneously. X-ray examination shows that the femoral head remains round and not collapsed, but the joint space becomes narrower, disappears, or even fuses. In addition, there is a laboratory-specific test for the diagnosis of this disease, namely HLA-B27 positivity, which makes it easy to distinguish it from hip osteoarthritis and avascular necrosis of the femoral head.

Rheumatoid arthritis: It can also cause hip pain, which manifests as hip pain and stiffness. The pain is often obvious and the stiffness lasts for a long time (more than 10 minutes) when getting up in the morning and bearing weight. It is common in female patients. X-ray examination shows that the femoral head remains round, but the hip joint space becomes narrower or disappears. In severe patients, the femoral head articular surface and acetabulum are eroded. Laboratory tests show abnormal changes in rheumatic indicators and erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

4. Lumbar disc herniation:

Lumbar disc herniation is one of the most common diseases in orthopedic clinical practice. It is more common in young and middle-aged people, those who do heavy physical labor and those who sit for long periods of time. In recent years, according to epidemiological statistics at home and abroad, the incidence rate and absolute value have shown an upward trend, and the age of onset tends to be younger. Lumbar 2-3 and Lumbar 3-4 disc herniation can cause pain in the waist, buttocks and around the hip joint. The posterior and lateral buttocks pain caused by Lumbar 4-5 and Lumbar 5-Sacral 1 disc herniation is often described by patients as "hip pain" and mistakenly believed to be a hip joint disease.