Hip Pain Due to Lumbar Spondylosis

Pain in your hip may not come from your hip but from spondylosis of your lumbar (lower) spine. The NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases Spine Center website calls spondylosis an "umbrella" term for a disorder that can compress nerves as discs degenerate, narrowing the canals that spinal nerves pass through and the spaces between vertebrae; joints degenerate and become unstable, and ligaments may thicken and harden. Hip pain may be "referred pain," described by Dr. William T. O'Connor on the backache.md website.

Effect on Spinal Joints

• Orthopedic surgeon John J. Regan, on the SpineUniverse website, refers to spondylosis as spinal osteoarthritis. The joint degeneration that can be affected by spondylosis, he writes, causes destruction of lubricating cartilage, leading to bone spurs that can cause hypertrophy. Spine surgeon Rudolf Bertagnoli of Germany writes on his website that hypertrophy---enlargement of the joint---can place nerves under pressure.

Nerve Compression

• The femoral nerve runs from the lumbar spinal cord to the hip, the BiomedExperts website says. That nerve is the culprit when pain felt in the hip joint doesn't actually stem from the hip, Dr. Louise Warburton writes on the Healthcare Republic website. Compression of the nerve, she writes, leads to the referred pain.

Referred Pain

• Pain may be referred---felt in a different location from the source---"because signals from several areas of the body often travel through the same nerve pathways in the spinal cord and brain," the Merck Manuals Online Medical Library says.

  O'Connor writes that referred pain shows that "the central nervous system isn't as smart as you think" and that the brain can make a wrong guess when pain comes from places that are hard to pin down through means such as touch, sight or conscious movement.

Spotting the Problem

• There are some giveaways to help you determine whether hip pain may stem from the lumbar spine. O'Connor writes that moving the hip joint or putting pressure on the area doesn't worsen the pain and that "quite often, rubbing or massaging those areas stops the pain momentarily because the stimulation convinces the brain that that area cannot be the source. However, as soon as you stop, the pain returns."

Medical Treatment

• The Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch lists treatments that include bed rest, the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants, physical therapy and steroids administered orally or through injection. If such conservative methods fail, the institute says, surgery may be called for, usually a fusion procedure. Fusion stops movement between vertebrae in the troubled area.

Other Steps

• On Australia's North East Valley Division of General Practice website, Dr. John Murtagh offers tips for dealing with lumbar spondylosis on your own, following professional advice. He urges "a sensible balance between mild to moderate exercise and rest" and recommends "gentle, slow stretching exercises to as far as you can stretch" along with swimming or hydrotherapy. The National Arthritis website urges losing weight and quitting smoking.