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What Cuases Pain In Hip?

Posted on Mon, 16 Jun 2014

Question: HI. I woke up yesterday morning with pain in my left hip. It is on the outside of the hip. it got worse during the day but was gone when I awoke this morning. During the day today it has continually gotten worse. I can hardly sit, stand or lay. I have been taking 2 Aleve every now this evening I took 2 mg dilaudid and later 50 mg tramadol. The pain continues to get worse. It is now down into the leg below the knee. when I try standing on it it doesn't want to support weight very well. Any suggestions?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Sharma (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
I would like to know little detail.

Detailed Answer:
Hello madam
I have studied your case and it looks to me that you are having disc herniation in back which has caused pain in back in past and now causing pain in your left leg.

I want to know detail about your illness so that I am better able to help.

1. What is the nature of pain?
2. Does this pain increase on coughing and sneezing?
3. I would suggest you to get MRI of the spine. This will confirm us extent and site of herniation.

Please send me answers of these question. Also send me your MRI report as soon as possible. You have the option of uploading the report from your dashboard. You can also send the reports at YYYY@YYYY and address it to my name: Dr Naveen Kumar Sharma.

I will try my best to help you.

Thanks.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Sharma (55 minutes later)

Very deep pain in the joint and it radiates down the leg deeply to the knee and below the knee halfway to ankle. It is very severe kind of a burning and sharp pain. I cant move without grasping and almost screaming. it started suddenly. I have never had pain like this in the left leg- similar but not as bad on the right after fall. I had an MRI done on Dec 9th, 2013 at the Mercy Hospital in XXXXXXX City but do not have access to that report. not really worse with coughing and sneezing- if it did get any worse I would pass out due to the pain.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Sharma (19 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Disc herniation with nerve compression

Detailed Answer:
Hello Madam,

After reading your description I am sure that this pain is most likely due to disc herniation and nerve compression in the back. It would be better if you get a new MRI because one year old MRI will not provide any help. In my patients with such complains I advice following :
1. Pregabalin and Methylcobal daily.
2. Keep your knee in bend position when you are lying on the bed.
3. Avoid bending forward and lifting heavy weight.

If the pain is untolerable, ER visit is recommended. Else, you can take over the counter pain killer and make arrangements to get back to your orthopedician. He/she will know the importance about repeating MRI and will accordingly guide you. You can also get the aforementioned drugs prescribed.

Please send me your new MRI report. On the basis of which I can tell you if you need any surgery.

Thanks and take care.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Sharma (8 hours later)

just to let you know you are off on your diagnosis. I did go to ER as the pain was too unbearable and I have trochanteric bursitis. Thanks.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Sharma (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
It can not be trochantric bursitis

Detailed Answer:
Hello madam,
It is possible that I made a wrong diagnosis. But I am still not sure about your diagnosis. A trochantric bursitis can cause mild pain in hip joint but pain caused by it is never unbearable. Other thing is that pain of trochantric bursitis never migrate below knee in leg.It is possible that both disc herniation and bursitis are coexisting in your case. You can take treatment for trochantric bursitis right now.
If your pain improves then its ok. If it still persist then get a new MRI. That will confirm your diagnosis.
Wish you a very good health. Thanks .

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Sharma (6 hours later)

Ok. then my next question is could a disc herniation that possibly happened with my fall a year ago just suddenly start causing symptoms in my left hip and leg? I know the problem originally was in the right back and leg and have never had any issues with the left side. As far as I can tell I didn't have a new injury- I don't recall doing anything different. As soon as the holiday is over I will be seeing my regular doctor about this and see what he has to say. I wasn't very impressed with the care I received in the ER yesterday- he did no testing except a bit of a reflex test and then pushed on my upper leg. the pain has abated somewhat but it is definitely not gone. I still have a hard time sitting down and standing up. even laying is painful and I can hardly bend over do anything on the floor. I know that I am 100 lbs overweight and I am trying very hard to lose weight but so far I am not having much luck. its difficult to exercise when you have pain issues. thanks for taking the time to "talk" with me and give me your opinion. Oh, another thing I was going to say. In the MRI I had in Dec there was a lot of issues in my back- herniations and degenerative disc disease and arthritis. I had gone to Laser Spine Instutite in Arizona with the intention of having a surgery but they said the ruptured disc that was originally seen was reabsorbing and looked better but with all the issues in my back they would need to do a nerve block to figure out which area was causing the problems but it would cause the paralysis in the leg to get worse so we opted not to do surgery at that time. That was the end of February. thanks

Answered by Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Sharma (3 days later)

Brief Answer:
It can be Disc herniation

Detailed Answer:
Apologies for the late reply...

Disc herniation is a progressive disease. You need not always fall or sustain trauma to have disc herniation. Some time even just bending forward or light jerky activity can progress the disc herniation. So it may happen that same disc can cause symptoms on both right and left side.

As I told you before that trochanter bursitis may cause pain in hip but does not causes pain in whole leg.

Your previous MRI has already shown that you have disc herniation. I think now one of the disc has herniated a little more and it is causing nerve compression on left side. I would suggest you to get a new MRI to see if this is the reason of your pain. It will also show how bad is your disc disease now.

You can always choose to treat with medications. As I mentioned earlier you can try Pregabalin and Methylcobal tablets . This will provide you pain relief and it is a safe medicine. However the condition should be reassessed after MRI scan.

Let me know if you want to ask any other question. I will try my best to help you. Thanks.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad