Hip Pain And Lower Back Pain – Is There A Link?

Although its true that Hip Pain can cause lower back pain, and vise versa, determining your diagnosis is a little tricky…

If you feel pain in your hips, then it to come from the hips right? It only makes perfect sense. Umm, NOT exactly, and here is why…

See, your lower back is more complex than you might think.  The lower back is composed of many nerves, and these nerves will send pain signals down into your:

• Hips
• Legs
• Toes

Now let me ask, what if you feel the pain in your spine(lumbar spine), and at the same time in your hips? Will that change your thinking?

It did for me.

Whether people:

1. Visit the doctors
2. Treat themselves

… For hip pain, they are convinced “something” is wrong. However, hip pain is not always as it appears.

People are mislead about the anatomy of the lower back and hip joint. The lumbar spine can convince your hip to have problems. For these reasons I will clarify:

1. How hip pain originates
2. How back pain originiates
3. Getting a diagnosis
4. Treatment
5. Conclusion

Lets leap right in, and talk about hip pain and lower back pain .

I Said A Hip Hop…

Do you know what your hip region looks like? Have a look below at a detailed picture, and just below is my skeletal model I have at home.

You can dance to the tune of a song, but not when your body is locked. You need your hips to make 99.99% of every move. Its absolute. Your hips allow for:

• Rotated movement
• Back support
• Bending
• Twisting

When your hips can’t move, this puts greater work on your lumbar spine to do it all itself. It can cause worn cartilage, and confined joint space.

 Now, let me get you to the thick of things…the hip joint.

If your pain originates in the hip joint, this can very soon without proper care send a repeating storm down its way.

The following results:

1. Groin pain
2. Pain down the inner thigh, in front of your leg
3. Pain moves down into the knee.

This is where the psychology aspect is introduced…

You’ll think that the pain is centered in your knee rather than your hip(s).And it so easy to think this because of two causes:

1. Walking. When you walk it triggers the nerves, and in result worsens the pain. With continued activity, pain increases.
2. Arthritis. Having hip arthritis is no fun as I know. Any slight movements will cause you to feel pain.

A Tight Psoas Muscle

Could your Psoas muscle be causing your lower back pain? First of all what is a Psoas? It’kind of like a raw strain of meat, before you cook it, it’s all rough, a bit stretchy(but not a lot), it has a really stiff appearance and feel to it.

And once you put the cooker on the stove or your grill, what happens is that the meat starts to expand, soften, and become used and strengthened.

This is what a Psoas Muscle is.

The other name this muscle that runs from your L1 vertebrae down through your pelvis to your femur bobe is also know as the Illopsoas muscle.

This muscle has various functions, and is involved in just about every movement you make. The one function it serves the best is whenever you go to lift your knee upwards, it stabalizes and keeps your back in balance.

How vital is the psoas muscle?

How about let me ask you this….

Do you like to walk, stand, and lye down? Ofcourse you do! Without this muscle you would not be able to do any of that.

How do you cause Damage to Your Psoas?

Basically, if you live a sedimentary lifestyle, you’re on the chopping block. Sitting around for too long, eating the wrong foods, not exercising properly or enough, and just being proactive in general can cause a contraction, and this will limit your range of motion.

One other thing is that if its stiff, you can immediately feel that muscle run up to your spine. Kind of like a sciatic nerve…

When you sting your nerve, it’ll run up to your brain and down to one side of your body.

And then there is the muscle imbalance that I always URGENTLY speak about. If one side of your psoas muscle weakens, you’re likely to lean to one side of your body.

Who Can Get a Tight Psoas?
No one is superhuman, but if you are, come talk to me. For us immortals, we’re never too far away from one strain, pull, or ache and pain.

Anyone from office workers who sit for a good amount of time, and athletes are at higher risk. Specifically hockey players, dancers, and soccer players(Me).

It would be a crime for me to try and justify how many times I’ve hurt this muscle from sitting but more so soccer – What used to be my life and blood.

The other reasons why you feel pain in your back whether you have a specific spinal problem or not is becuase the muscle stretches out and tweaks your vertebrae.

Treatments For this Muscle

Luckily, you can take care of your Psoas Muscle, but as long as you have drive and you can add some effort on your part at home, and in every day life.

1. Stretching
2. Natural Remedies

More Scenarios With Hip Pain

Ex: Moving out of bed

This next part will tell you how you can clearly identify how your hips are the problem.

If you have arthritis, your motion is limited. You’ll pick up on this realization when:

• You attempt to get off the chair
• You get off the bed

If you had pain coming from the back, things like sitting down, and lying down will make your pain worse.

What about hip pain all on one side? Bursitis as it is known.

When you have:

• A weak ab(abductor) muscle
• Leg length discrepancy
• Overused your hip joint
• Early hip joint degeneration

…this can automatically cause Bursitis.

The Back Pain Chronicles

The most common experience of lower back pain is in the back itself… I hope that was your first guess :). However, since the spine is so complicated, the nerves attached to it can pack up and travel down to the other nerves. An example of that:

Ex: Striking you “funny bone”, and feeling a sensation in your hand below that elbow.

Funny how that works…

This will strike a nerve: Many of us will associate a nerve pain as sciatic pain in the leg. But that’s not where it always starts and ends.

Irritation and inflammation of the nerves in your lower back region can as well cause these sensations in your upper legs and hips.

Don’t start running for the fence though…

Know that your back pain and/or hip pain is not a diagnosis, rather it is a symptom; simply an explanation of the area in pain.

It is a symptom because its connected to a physical examination. What if your pain came from another direction? Perhaps a ruptured disc?

Where does the sensation take place? It is felt in:

• The butt(glute)
• Hips

It’s not the hip joint you need to concern yourself with, rather just plain pain. A degeneration of the disc and spine will cause a narrowing in adjacent areas, and it leads to spinal stenosis. This is the jackpot…

You’ll feel the pain in the hip. Okay, not the jackpot I had in mind, but like they say:

“It’s not once you get to the gold that matters, but with what you do with it afterwards”

What’s Your Diagnosis? – Safe

How and where can you begin to get the right diagnosis? For a start, begin with physical examination, by:

• X-Ray. You’ll see the bony and cartilage areas where your problem persist.
• MRI. Will confirm nerve problems.

It’s important that you run physical test because an X-ray alone will not be able to asses the amount of pain you have. For instance, an x-ray can show you something very little, but your physical pain is at an ultimate 10, and vise versa.

Treatment

Whether your pain is coming from the hips, the lower back, or both, do know you have a plan.

You can help all cases by using anti-inflammatory medications if you are suffering with:

• Mild pain
• Moderate
• Chronic pain

You should be integrating some topical analgesics into your plan. The reason I say that is because pain medications are not the long term solution.

==>You can LEARN more about painkillers here<==

It’s helpful, but there are many long term effects. Analgesic topicals will help your nervous system. They completely eliminate your sensation, while providing you with a more natural solution.  The best option is an analgesic/topical that will reduce your pain as significantly if not better than a pill is this one below.

A 100% natural painkiller that I use.

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Here is you choice number three, and one that offers the most natural way.

• Exercise

And if you are more along int the treatment process when your pain is really intense:

• An epidural shot

This is my last resort…surgery.

Whether it is a replacement for your hip arthritis or back surgery for:

• A herniated disc
• Spinal stenosis
• Vertebra disorders

They are effective, but it shouldn’t be tried unless other conservative treatments have all failed.

We are all in a different phase of the treatment process, and so I advise you to really understand where you are with your pain.

My Hip, My Back, My Nerves, and My Lack

I don’t know about you, but to this day its is still unreal for me. Its unreal for me to believe how hop and lower back pain can either work separately, or work as a 1, 2 punch.

Your back and hips are that of a mirage, you see it, but can’t tell if the pain is really there. Diagnosis it gets tricky.

You felt eh pain in your hips so that’s where it should come from right? You can answer that without a problem now.

To understand your hip and lower back pain, it begins with seeing how they work separately, and then explaining the way they mix as one. This way it can help you get a better diagnosis.

Treatment begins in phases. You should apply pain medication, but most recommended are analgesics/topical. Exercise will work if you can begin to do it. Epidural shots are good for taking pressure off your disc. Last resort, the Mother of all, surgery.

I hope my article gave you a better view and perspective. If you have any questions, comments, opinions, concerns, please feel free to reach out to me by leaving a message below. I will get back to you right away!

The Remove Back Pain System

In the next segment you’ll learn all you need to know about the best hip stretches to help with your muscle imbalance right here.