You drive somewhere feeling perfectly comfortable. Then you open the door, turn your body, swing your leg out—and there it is. Hip pain.
Maybe you notice it getting out of a chair, climbing stairs, turning in bed, or putting on your shoes. You may feel an ache along the side or front of the hip, tenderness, or even a snapping or catching sensation with certain movements.
Hip pain can have many causes, and where you feel the pain isn’t always where the problem begins.
Pain around the hip may involve tendons, muscles, bursae, or other surrounding soft tissues. Common problems can include gluteal tendon injuries, bursitis, muscle or tendon strains, and certain snapping hip conditions.
Arthritis and problems involving deeper structures within the hip joint can also cause pain, but these may require X-ray, MRI, or other imaging for a more complete evaluation.
That’s why understanding when and how your hip hurts can be an important part of determining what to examine.
Getting out of a car isn’t one simple movement. Your hip bends, rotates, and moves outward as you turn and shift your weight.
If that particular combination of movements causes your symptoms, MSK ultrasound may allow us to examine certain accessible structures around the hip in real time while the hip moves.
You may be asked to reproduce a movement or position that causes your discomfort. This dynamic examination can sometimes help connect what you’re feeling with what is happening around the hip at that moment.
MSK ultrasound is safe, noninvasive, and uses no radiation.
At the Center for Musculoskeletal Ultrasound, every examination begins before the ultrasound probe is ever picked up.
We start by listening. Where exactly does your hip hurt? Does the pain happen when you turn your leg, stand from a chair, climb stairs, or get out of the car? Is there clicking, snapping, catching, or tenderness? Which movement reproduces the pain?
Michael Jablon, an expert in musculoskeletal ultrasound, begins with a focused history and a careful physical and positional examination, looking for the movements that reproduce your symptoms and the clues your body provides. This is referred to as the Jablon Protocol. Only then does he pick up the probe, using what he has learned to guide the ultrasound examination.
You don’t have to have a major injury for hip pain to interfere with everyday life. Sometimes it’s the ordinary movements you perform dozens of times a day that finally make you realize something isn’t right.
By combining your history, physical examination, and real-time MSK ultrasound imaging, we can help determine whether an accessible soft-tissue structure around the hip may be contributing to your symptoms—and whether additional imaging may be appropriate.
If getting out of the car has become something you brace yourself for, it may be time to find out why.
Center for Musculoskeletal Ultrasound
Orthopedic Ultrasound Inc.
949.229.7377
