The hip is a so-called ball and socket joint – the ball being the head of your femur (thigh bone), and the socket being a spherical cup like depression in the side of your pelvis. The ball fits snuggly into the socket, and is surrounded and stabilised by strong ligaments and large muscles.

It’s a powerful and robust joint, and yet hip pain is one of the top three symptoms that clients come to me with – the others being chronic lower back and neck pain. So why is hip pain so common?

Well, the reasons can be complex and varied, but I think one of the most common causes is connected to poor body alignment. In this short video I explain how this can cause chronic pain and how to stop it.

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When dealing with any pain in the body, it’s a good idea to find out why that pain is happening in the first place.

We can’t just stop with your condition – whether that’s osteoarthritis, bursitis or impingement. These are just labels, and at times they can be helpful, but we need to delve deeper and ask why did the condition happen in the first place!

Many health professionals will tell you it’s just normal wear and tear, age or activity related. This is such a poor explanation in many cases because aren’t there people who are older than you, who do your same activity, and yet don’t have your pain?

If it was age related, then almost everyone in your age bracket should have your pain, and if you overused your hips then what about all the people who use their bodies much more than you and don’t have pain?

Furthermore, most clients who come to me with hip pain have symptoms in only one hip. If it was age related then shouldn’t both hips hurt, they are the same age after all?

Lastly, how can we be overusing our hips when in the so-called western world at least, we seem to be using our bodies less and less with the invention of cars and elevators and trains and offices and sofas etc.

The reason finding the root cause(s) is so important, is that this affects what approach you should take to solve the problem. Too often expensive, invasive and extreme treatments are proposed which either don’t help at all, help temporarily or make things worse.

Furthermore, if you don’t deal with the root cause then often the pain can spread to different parts of your body such as your knee, or lower back etc. I see this with the clients who come to see me every single week.

I really think we need a revolution in the approaches to dealing with chronic pain. Too many people are getting silly advice, ineffective treatment and suffering in silence.

I hope this video helps you.

Take care.

Ameet Bhakta BSc, DipHE
I’m a posture correction specialist in London and Tunbridge Wells, certified by the Egoscue Institute and I founded Health Through Posture.