Osteoarthritis is one of the diseases that involve several body parts. This disease causes the inflammation of joints of feet, hands, spine and the large weight-bearing joints like knees and hips. The body parts like knees and hips which carry the body weight are at the higher risk of osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis of the hip affects men and women equally due to different causes such as obesity, age, stress, injury and congenital deformity.
The medical science is not clear about the exact cause of hip osteoarthritis. However, some possible causes of osteoarthritis of hip are aging, previous injury or fracture to hip, obesity, family history of osteoarthritis and damage to hip joint due to other types of arthritis such as gout or rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoarthritis of the hip is generally associated with aging. The hip bones are covered with the smooth articular cartilage. With aging, the articular cartilage becomes thin or form cracks. Small tiny pieces of cartilage become loose and float inside the hip which causes inflammation of the joints. In some cases, there is total loss of joint cartilage and the bones start to rub on each other.
Joint pain is the most common symptom of osteoarthritis of hip. Patient experiences the pain in the buttocks, groin, thigh or occasionally in the knee. The pain increases with activity and reduced by rest. It may be common at night and may disturb sleep in severe cases. Patient with hip osteoarthritis also complains of stiffness and limp while walking.
In case of osteoarthritis, it is better to start the treatment as early as possible before it gets ‘wear and tear’. To decide a treatment plan, diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the hip is very important. The diagnosis is done on the basis of symptoms, physical examination, medical history of the patient and x-ray findings. X-ray findings of affected hip joint put the clear picture of the disease.
The treatment of hip osteoarthritis varies person to person. The goal of treatment is to reduce the pain and improve the mobility of the joints. There are surgical as well as non-surgical options for the treatment. The non-surgical options include medication, exercise and physiotherapy. The medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. In addition to that, cortisone injections are also found to be effective. Besides these medications, some exercises help to maintain the healthy body weight, to improve the strength and mobility of the joint. Modifying the activities or change in lifestyle is also beneficial. In some severe cases, surgical options like arthroplasty (total hip replacement) or arthrodesis (fusion or fixation) are suggested.
