Is it my back or is it my hip?
This is a common question I’m asked and the answer sometimes isn’t so easy, so I’ll try to explain with a couple of simple clinical scenarios.
The first scenario, involves a person I’ll call “Bill”, Bill is a 35 year old man who was doing some landscaping around his house, lifting and moving flagstone, digging, planting etc. He recalls bending and lifting a rock and then feeling some pain in his “hip” and buttock area and some pain in his groin. He is uncomfortable bending, standing from sitting and rolling over in bed. He finds some relief when he’s up moving around and walking feels better. Is it my back or is it my hip?
In this case Bill’s problem is his sacroiliac joint, or the joint between his sacrum or tailbone and his illium or the bones your belt sits on (unless you are a teenaged boy, then the belt may really sit on the hip) , this is not really your hip, but this is commonly referred to as one’s hip. A problem in this area will often present as Bill did with one sided lower back, buttock and groin pain, with walking tending to help.
Scenario two, has “ Betty” an energetic 77 year old lady who enjoys walking, golfing and gardening. Betty reports that over the past couple of years she has been getting more sore over her right hip, buttock and groin. The pain can be aggravated by her regular walks, getting out of bed in the morning or if she’s been still for a long period. Is it my back or is it my hip?
In Betty’s case the problem is in her true hip joint (ball and socket joint) or where her femur, the leg bone (the ball) inserts into the pelvis ( the socket), here the cartilage components of either the ball or the socket are wearing out and with weight on the right leg the symptoms become worse, inflammatory effects are worse when initiating movement from rest.
So in short is it my back or my hip?
Backs like to walk and hips don’t
Both conditions will respond well to chiropractic care
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