In addition to being a disorder that causes debilitating fatigue, fibromyalgia can also cause pain or sensitivity that settles in specific areas of the body. From tender points along the spine to aching in the shoulders, neck, and limbs, fibromyalgia can cause both ever-present background symptoms and acute pain.
The hips, being central to your body’s movement and stability, are particularly vulnerable to fibromyalgia-related pain. This pain can range from a dull, persistent ache to sharp, shooting sensations that make walking, sitting, or sleeping extremely difficult.
As exhausting and frustrating as this pain can be, understanding the connection between fibromyalgia and hip pain is crucial for developing an effective treatment strategy. When you know what’s causing your discomfort, you can take targeted steps to find relief and improve your quality of life.
What causes hip pain with fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia affects how your nervous system processes pain signals, essentially amplifying sensations that might otherwise be minor or unnoticeable. This heightened sensitivity can make your hips feel painful even without any structural damage or inflammation. The tender points commonly associated with fibromyalgia include areas around the hip region, particularly near the greater trochanter (the bony prominence on the outer side of your thigh).
However, hip pain fibromyalgia patients experience isn’t always solely due to fibromyalgia itself. People with fibromyalgia are also more likely to develop other conditions that can affect the hips, such as rheumatoid arthritis, bursitis, or hip flexor strain. These concurrent conditions can work together with fibromyalgia to create a more complex pain experience.
Even when these concurrent conditions don’t affect you, the muscles surrounding your hips—including the hip flexors, glutes, and rotators—can become chronically tight and tender partially as a result of fibromyalgia. This muscle tension can pull on the hip joint and surrounding structures, creating additional pain and stiffness.
Finally, sleep disturbances, another common fibromyalgia symptom, can worsen hip pain by preventing proper muscle recovery and increasing overall pain sensitivity.
How to treat hip pain with fibromyalgia
The general problem people face with fibromyalgia is that it makes everything harder, from determining the exact source of pain to staying motivated to find treatments that provide lasting relief. And as any sufferer knows, what works one day for your symptoms may not work the next.
So while there are things you can try on your own, based on your comfort level and current symptoms, many fibromyalgia patients find that a personalized treatment plan developed with a healthcare professional is more accessible than attempting to navigate this ever-changing condition alone.
At-home hip exercises for fibromyalgia pain
Gentle exercise can be one of the most effective tools for managing fibromyalgia-related pain, including in the hips. However, whenever trying something for the first time, it’s important to start slowly and listen to your body.
These are a few ideas for exercises that require no special equipment and can be performed in the comfort of your home:
- Hip circles: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and place your hands on your hips. Slowly circle your hips in one direction for 10 rotations, then reverse direction.
- Seated hip flexor stretch: Sit on the edge of a chair and extend one leg behind you, keeping your heel on the ground. Gently lean forward to feel a stretch in the front of your hip. Repeat on the other side.
- Supine hip bridge: Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Slowly lift your hips up, creating a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Hold for a few seconds before lowering back down.
- Side-lying leg lifts: Lie on your side and slowly lift your top leg a few inches, then lower it back down. Roll to the other side and repeat.
- Knee-to-chest stretch: Lie on your back and gently pull one knee toward your chest, holding it with both hands.
As always, heat and ice can also be helpful for people with inflammation or muscle tension in their hips. Use ice packs wrapped in a towel for pain caused by inflammation and heat from a warm bath or microwavable pack for muscle tension in the hips or lower back.
Physical therapy for fibromyalgia
Whether you have a diagnosis from a doctor or not, our Physical Therapists understand fibromyalgia and take a holistic approach when helping you find ways to minimize pain and improve function. Every treatment process for this intensely personal disorder begins with a personalized evaluation.
During an evaluation, we’ll be able to assess not just your hip pain, but also how fibromyalgia affects your overall movement patterns, posture, and daily activities. We can identify specific muscle imbalances or movement dysfunction that might be contributing to your hip pain and develop a treatment plan tailored to your unique needs and limitations.
Physical therapy for fibromyalgia will be unique to each person, but often includes:
- Gentle manual therapy techniques
- Customized exercise programs
- Education about pain management strategies
- Joint mobilization
- Symptom management adapted to your current needs
Education is a key component of fibromyalgia physical therapy. Your therapist may teach you about pacing strategies, helping you understand how to balance activity and rest to prevent symptom flares. They can also provide guidance on proper body mechanics and ergonomics to reduce stress on your hips during your specific daily activities.
Many physical therapists also teach about the neuroscience of fibromyalgia, helping you understand how the disorder affects your nervous system and pain processing. This knowledge can be empowering and may help reduce the fear and anxiety that often accompany chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia.
See how physical therapy might help you live better
As you’re probably well aware, there’s no cure-all for a condition like fibromyalgia, but there is meaningful progress to be made no matter where you’re starting from. At SSOR in Kansas City, our physical therapists understand the complexities of fibromyalgia and how it affects each person differently. We take time to listen to your concerns, assess your specific symptoms, and develop a treatment plan that respects your current abilities while working toward your goals.
Meet our team and learn exactly what you can expect from physical therapy for fibromyalgia by calling a clinic near you or by requesting your first appointment online today.