By Do you have chronic hip pain and not know why? Learn more about it on this post. Millions of people suffer from hip pain, which may be brought on by any one of many reasons. Yet research has shown that young people, those who are under the age of 50, who have chronic hip pain, may not be getting the right diagnoses to help them determine the cause. Rather than just take the pain and keep wondering what is bringing it on, those who experience chronic hip pain and don’t have diagnoses may want to see a specialist see if they can get answers.
The Study Conducted By Researchers
In the December 2018 issue of the Journal of Korean Medical Science, researchers conducted a study to determine what was behind so many young people not be properly diagnosed with chronic pain (1). Their study included 150 patients under the age of 50 who had chronic hip pain and were either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed by their primary physician. They found that 32 cases per month were being referred to them, where the young patients were not receiving a proper diagnosis for chronic hip pain.
What Chronic hip pain Reported
Chronic hip pain, they report, is that which lasts for at least six weeks. Analyzing the 150 patients who were referred to them, they were able to allocate a specific disease to the cause of their chronic pain in 146 of them. There were four common diagnoses that were applied to the 146 cases that were able to be properly diagnosed. The four common conditions that were causing chronic pain in these young adults were:
- Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome (55.3%) – where the extra bone grows, giving the bone a shape that is irregular.
- Hip dysplasia (HD, 13.3%) – having a hip socket that doesn’t support the ball of the hip because it is too shallow.
- Referred pain from the lumbar spine (9.3%) – a problem somewhere else in the body causes the pain.
- Spondyloarthritis (SpA, 7.3%) – a type of arthritis.
With this information, the researchers suggest that it is important for primary physicians to be familiar with these common conditions that can cause chronic hip pain. This may help increase the rate at which young adults get a proper diagnosis for their condition, and then can work on pain management that will address their specific needs.
Those who are under the age of 50 and have undiagnosed chronic hip pain and have only spoken to their primary care physician about it may want to get another opinion by a specialist. It’s important that those with chronic hip pain don’t simply ignore it, even if their primary care physician hasn’t been able to give them a reason why they have it. Taking it a step further to see a specialist may help ensure that people get a proper diagnosis so they know how to help treat the condition.
Sources:
Journal of Korean Medical Science. Causes of chronic hip pain undiagnosed and misdiagnosed by primary physicians in young adult patients. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30584417
