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Hip Bursitis Chiropractic Solutions for Athletes

Have you ever experienced intense pain in the hip region while doing an athletic activity? Do you keep getting an aching pain in the outer hip at night? It could be hip bursitis.

Sudden muscle pulling while running or jumping can be a cause of the condition. Under those circumstances, individuals may experience tenderness in a localized area and joint stiffness.

For an athlete, the condition can be problematic, as it hinders mobility and directly affects training and performance. Though medicines are quick solutions to lower the pain, once their effect wears off, the pain comes back.

To relieve shooting pain, athletes may seek chiropractic treatment for bursitis. It is a holistic approach that involves stretching and spinal manipulation techniques to locate the trigger points.

As this happens, individuals can experience a greater range of motion. It thus helps improve their athletic performance.
If you’re a sports person looking to let go of hip pain and focus on the game/activity, you’ve come to the right place.

This blog will explore hip bursitis, chiropractic care, and how it helps athletes recover from impact.

What is Hip Bursitis?

Hip bursitis is an inflammatory condition caused by overuse or injury to the bursa. The bursae are small jelly-like sacs located throughout the body, including the hip, knee, shoulder, elbow, and heel.

Placed between bones and soft tissues, bursae contain fluids that act as cushions to help reduce friction during joint motion. When the bursa on the groin side becomes inflamed, it causes sharp pain.

The condition can also occur at the outside of the hip (trochanter). It is characterized by sharp pain in the hip region, making it almost impossible to perform intense activities such as running, walking, or working out.

To treat the condition, individuals can seek treatment from a chiropractor specializing in bursitis. They will locate the painful areas and gently massage or stretch the joints, which increases oxygen delivery to the tissues. When that happens, the inflammation reduces, and the pain goes away.

What Causes Hip Bursitis in Athletes?

Now that you know what hip bursitis is, it is crucial to learn about its causes. Sudden trauma in the hip joint can cause hip bursitis, leading to inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs. Moreover, if you perform any activity for a prolonged time, as simple as sitting, it can cause cramping in the tissues.

It can result in excruciating pain, making it difficult to move the muscles and disrupting mobility.

The following are the common causes of hip bursitis in athletes:

  • Repetitive overuse: Frequent running, climbing stairs, and cycling can create friction between muscles and the bursa, leading to inflammation.
  • Tight muscles or tendons: A tight iliotibial (IT) band can lead to bursal tension, a common issue among runners.
  • Acute trauma: A sudden fall on the hip or lying on one side for too long can cause immediate swelling in the bursae.
  • Hip instability/biomedical issues: Alignment issues in the legs or weak hip muscles can increase hip stress or lead to improper gait, which can cause bursitis.
  • Bone spurs: Bony projections that develop along the joints or bone edges can be another cause of hip bursitis. 

How Does Hip Bursitis Impact Athletes’ Performance?

Understanding the causes of the condition will help you understand how it impacts athletes’ performance. When you experience hip bursitis, it causes a sharp pain in the muscles and joints along the hip.

Prolonged running or cycling can tighten leg muscles, leading to inflammation in the outer hip region. When that happens, it affects an athlete’s range of motion, ultimately interfering with their performance.

Moreover, the condition impacts a person in the following ways:

  • The inflammatory condition limits the hip joint’s range of motion, affecting the agility of field athletes.
  • Strain in the hip joints and adjoining muscles can limit your running, cycling, or any activity that requires lateral motion. It therefore leads to missed performance training, impacting your game/competition.
  • Pain caused by hip bursitis can lead to decreased muscle strength. It thus imbalances your posture, affecting your overall performance and form.
  • To manage pain, athletes may adjust their gait during running or walking. Such a scenario can lead to secondary injuries in the knees, opposite hip, and back. 
 

How Chiropractic Care Helps Hip Bursitis in Athletes?

As hip bursitis limits the range of motion, it interferes with an athlete’s overall performance and form. To relieve pain, athletes may take medication.

A strong dose of ibuprofen or a steroid injection directly into the bursa may reduce the pain. However, it reiterates when the effect of the medicine or injection wears off.

In such circumstances, you should consider a more holistic approach, such as chiropractic care for bursitis. As someone unfamiliar with the approach, one may wonder: Can a chiropractor help with hip bursitis? The answer is, yes.

A trained professional, known as a chiropractor, will assess the location of the pain and incorporate various therapies, adjustments, or exercises.

The following are the ways chiropractic professionals can help reduce the pain and discomfort in your hip region:

1. Spinal and Pelvic Adjustments

Spinal and pelvic misalignments can induce hip bursitis. Using controlled forces in the spine and pelvic region, chiropractors can restore proper alignment. It helps reduce strain in the hip joint, minimizing the friction in the bursa.

Benefits of spinal and pelvic adjustments for athletes

A professional chiropractor uses spinal and pelvic adjustments to reduce nerve irritation and joint stiffness that impact the hip joint. Moreover, the benefits of these adjustments include:

  • Better hip mobility: Adjusting the spine and pelvic region improves hip joint range of motion and flexibility.
  • Muscle balance: Helps restore balance around the hips, reducing the risk of overuse injuries.
  • Pain relief: Controlled, precise force along the hip can provide immediate relief from hip pain and discomfort.
  • Reduced inflammation: By optimizing the spinal misalignment, chiropractors can make adjustments to reduce inflammation in the hip area.

2. Soft tissue therapy

Soft-tissue therapy is a hands-on chiropractic treatment that includes stretching, massage, and myofascial release, targeting muscles and tendons that cause hip pain. The chiropractor addresses the trigger points to release tight muscles, reducing pain and soreness.

Benefits of soft tissue therapy for athletes

By targeting massage to the hip area, chiropractors can boost blood circulation in soft tissues. It thus helps loosen up tight muscles, reducing the pain. Also, the chiropractic treatment can help with:

  • Breaking down scar tissue: It helps break adhesions and fibrous tissue buildup, improving tissue function and reducing chronic tightness.
  • Reduced pain: The therapy uses techniques such as cross-friction massage to directly target tight hip muscles and reduce pain.
  • Decreased muscle spasm: By targeting the soft tissues near the hip, chiropractors minimize muscle spasm and tightness. As a result, it helps reduce the effects of hip bursitis.
  • Improved function and gait: The combination of massage and trigger-point therapy reduces pain and inflammation, improving function and gait. It thus helps improve the athlete’s form and gait.

3. Cold Laser Therapy

It is a non-invasive treatment that uses low-intensity light to stimulate cells and accelerate tissue repair. All these help reduce inflammation in the hip area. The chiropractor for bursitis will use a handheld device to emit infrared light on the trigger points to relax tensed muscles, reducing pain and discomfort.

Benefits of cold laser therapy for athletes

Inflammation in the hip will make it difficult for athletes to perform their best. With cold laser therapy, chiropractors will deeply address the pressure point and slowly loosen the muscles, thereby reducing inflammation. Other benefits of cold laser therapy for athletes include:

  • Better muscle performance: By applying cold laser therapy to strained hip muscles, cell regeneration takes place. It helps improve muscle performance.
  • Helps with recurring strain: Hip bursitis can cause recurring pain and often radiates through the knees, shoulders, and joints. The low-intensity light of a cold laser addresses these areas, reducing the strain.
  • Heals tissue damage: Cold laser therapy boosts cell regeneration. The process repairs damaged tissues along the spine and pelvic region, healing the bursitis.
  • Offer fast recovery times: This chiropractic approach speeds healing of the injured region. Therefore, you can get back in the game faster and with much more energy.

4. Active Release Techniques (ART)

Another chiropractic treatment for hip bursitis is active release techniques (ART). The professionals will combine stretching and massage to focus on the hip joint and adjoining muscles and tissues. The technique actively releases muscle tension, reducing pain and discomfort.

Benefits of active release techniques for athletes

ART helps target the root cause of your condition. Be it strain along your knees or pelvis, the chiropractor carefully massages the area and breaks the adhesions. It thus helps release tension from the tendons and hip joint. ART also benefits athletes in the following ways:

  • Improves biomechanics: Targeted release balances help rebalance hip muscles and tendons along the knees. It therefore prevents athletes from future injuries.
  • Accelerates recovery: By releasing tension from the tendons and hip joint, it increases blood flow within the tissues. It helps reduce inflammation and speed healing.
  • Reduce discomfort: With ART, chiropractors relax tight tissues, reducing the friction and compression in the hip. As a result, you can feel the discomfort leaving your body.
  • Provides a greater range of motion: The chiropractic technique helps improve hip joint flexibility. By improving flexibility, athletes can return to performance training faster.

5. Corrective exercises & stretching

Often, a chiropractor for hip bursitis may use corrective exercises and stretching. It is a non-invasive method to emphasize the tender hip muscles. Stretching exercises like the side-lying IT band stretch loosen tight muscles on the outer hip and thigh. As a result, it offers better mobility.

Benefits of corrective exercises & stretching for athletes

By stretching the hip, chiropractors expand the tight muscles and stiff joints. The process releases tension and helps athletes regain form and control to perform intense activities such as running and cycling. Besides these, corrective exercises and stretching have other benefits, like:

  • Posture/gait correction: Improper movement patterns often cause hip bursitis. Through corrective exercises and stretches, chiropractors address these issues and improve gait/posture.
  • Improved joint mobilization: Through such approaches, professionals restore proper movement in the hip and pelvis. It therefore helps improve overall joint mobilization.
  • Reduced muscle tension: These exercises target the hip and surrounding muscles, reducing tension and giving athletes more scope to recover from the injury.
  • Minimized inflammation: Stretching the hip muscles boosts blood circulation within the damaged tissues. It helps minimize the inflammation and pain that cause bursitis. 
 

When to See a Chiropractor for Hip Bursitis?

Learning about chiropractic care for hip bursitis can help eliminate not just the pain but also its root causes. As an athlete, it may be difficult to determine whether the pain could have a severe effect on your performance. If you experience persistent pain, seeking a chiropractor can be beneficial.

Other cases when you should see a chiropractor are as follows:

  • Chronic pain: Rest can help reduce mild hip pain. When the pain lasts for over a week, a chiropractor can address the trigger point and help eliminate it.
  • Stiffness: Severe hip bursitis can limit your daily movements, such as prolonged sitting, walking, or climbing stairs. Chiropractors can make adjustments to reduce muscle and joint stiffness.
  • Radiating pain: When the pain spreads to the lower back, buttocks, and down the leg, it becomes difficult to do strength training. With chiropractic massage and stretches, the pain goes away.
  • Pelvic misalignment: Constant aching may lead to postural misalignment in the pelvic region. With spinal and pelvic adjustments, professionals can loosen the tight muscles and help restore the alignment.  
 

Heal from Hip Bursitis with Action Chiropractic & Sports Injury Center

Hip bursitis in athletes can restrict their training and performance. Living with sharp pain may even affect their normal activities, such as walking or sitting for long periods. To regain control of your life, hip bursitis chiropractic care is the way to go.

By using a series of therapies, adjustments, exercises, and stretching, a chiropractor will reduce the pain. As a result, you can get relief from hip bursitis.
For hip bursitis, the most reliable destination is Action Chiropractic & Sports Injury Center.

Our chiropractic solutions focus on the root causes of the pain to minimize the chances of future injuries. With proper diagnosis, we identify the pain region and incorporate techniques such as ART, cold laser therapy, or stretching to reduce discomfort.

With our services, you can also learn the benefits of chiropractic care for athletes. It will help you make an informed decision.

Explore our chiropractic solutions and recover from hip bursitis and sports injuries faster.

Tagged
Dr. Norgaard’s first exposure to chiropractic was when he was a high school football player at Neuqua Valley in Naperville, Illinois. Nagging injuries led him to Action Chiropractic and Dr. Durnas. He was amazed with the results he got and knew that the treatments provided at Action Chiropractic were the best way to address his ailments.
After high school, Dr. Norgaard left Naperville and attended Central College in Pella, Iowa. While at Central, he majored in biology and played football, further piquing his interest in sports injuries and how to treat them. When he wasn’t in the classroom or on the football field, Dr. Norgaard spent his time volunteering at hospitals, and at various clinics. This is when he really developed a passion for helping people get better.
His experiences as an athlete, chiropractic patient, and volunteer shaped his decision to become a chiropractor.
After graduating from Central, Dr. Norgaard continued his education at Palmer College of Chiropractic.
While at Palmer, Dr. Norgaard took several extracurricular courses focusing on spinal diagnosis and therapy, soft tissue care, and diagnosis and treatment of the extremities. He completed a 4-month internship with Dr. Durnas at Action Chiropractic and Sports Injury Center and further developed his skills as a physician.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Palmer in October of 2021 and received the Academic Excellence Award.
After graduation, Dr. Norgaard joined the team at Action Chiropractic and Sports Injury Center. He currently resides in the Naperville area with his wife, Shannon, son, Parker, and dog, Alby.
“I chose to become a chiropractor because I was helped by chiropractic. I was in such discomfort it took me over 3 minutes to put on my socks. After seeing a chiropractor, and regaining the ability to tie my shoes, I realized that taking loads of NSAIDs did not address the fact that there was something causing the pain. The more I learned about it, I found that Chiropractic doesn’t just hide symptoms, like I was trying to do with pills, it fixes the origin of the problem.”
Dr. Durnas graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Biology and Bachelors of Arts degree in Chemistry. After graduation he worked in research and development for 3 years and dabbled in powerlifting and professional wrestling. That’s what lead him to chiropractic school. While at Palmer College of Chiropractic, he focused on learning how to best help the athlete. He took several extracurricular courses on how to address soft tissue injuries, how to adjust extremities, and how to better manage sports injuries. He graduated in June of 2012, where we were the Palmer Clinical Excellence Award winner and a keynote speaker at commencement.
In 2019, Dr. Durnas earned his Diplomate from the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians (DACBSP)®. He is only the 427th chiropractor in history to earn this designation, and only the 6th recipient in the history of Illinois. He completed over 300 hours of classroom and online courses focusing on in depth on the diagnosis and treatment of sports injuries, concussions, and emergency procedures, and had over 100 on the field hours with athletes that ranged from cross fitters, professional and high school football players, professional BMX and Motocross riders, triathletes, and runners. Dr. Durnas passed a 6-part practical exam and a 250 question Board exam and contributed a case study involving nerve damage in a professional athlete following a hit to the shoulder.