Cortisone or corticosteroid injections can sometimes provide short-term relief for inflammatory symptoms in many joints of the body. Cortisone is a naturally occurring substance within the body. Injectable steroid preparations can sometimes relieve the pain...
Glucosamine and Chondroitin are substances that occur naturally within the human body. They help to build and maintain the structure of normal articular cartilage in a joint. For this reason, many people take Glucosamine and...
NSAID’s are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They are the most common treatment for arthritis and painful joints. NSAIDs can be taken orally. Unlike steroids, NSAIDs do not occur naturally in the human body. They are chemically...
When you have a bad hip you may find it helpful to use a cane. A cane can help take some of the weight off of your hip, it can help you balance and may...
Most individuals planning hip replacement surgery do not need to worry about weight. If you are very overweight, then losing weight before surgery may be helpful. Under the best of circumstances, it is hard to...
If you have arthritis, it is important to keep your hip joint mobile. Over time, the arthritis will progress. Your hip will feel stiffer and you will lose range of motion. It is therefore helpful...
When the diagnosis of an arthritic hip is not clear, it is important to consider other problems that might cause similar pain in the groin and thigh. Problems in the lumbar spine, such as disc...
An arthrogram is a procedure where radiopaque dye or contrast is injected into the joint and plain x-rays are taken. It is done to diagnose infection or loosening. Joint fluid can be removed and sent...
Most often the diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the hip can be made on a plain x-ray. Joint space narrowing, deformity, and spur formation are much more obvious on a plain film than on an MRI....
Your doctor will want to see x-rays of your hip as part of your office consultation. If you bring x-rays with you, he will want to review them. If not, he may take x-rays in...
Physical examination is very helpful to your doctor in making the diagnosis of a painful hip. He or she will examine how you stand, how you walk, and how you move. He will check the...
When you go to your orthopaedic surgeon, he will take several steps to make the diagnosis. While the presence of an arthritic hip may seem obvious to you, your surgeon will need to evaluate your...
A crackling or snapping of the hip joint can be disconcerting. It feels uncomfortable and it makes a loud noise that sometimes other people in the room can hear. The medical term for crackling or...
When your hip is arthritic, it may become stiff. Since the motion in your hip is restricted, you will have difficulty doing some of the things you did before.Even when you don’t have pain, the...
Limping means an abnormal gait or walking pattern. Limping may come from a variety of causes such as pain, deformity or shortening of the leg. It can also come from a neurologic cause such as...
An arthritic hip can hurt at any time. Much of the time pain will occur after prolonged standing, walking, or any other weight bearing activity. It may also come from activities that put stress on...
An arthritic hip is painful because the joint has broken down. The articular cartilage on the surfaces of the joint has worn away leaving raw bone exposed. Movement between the two joint surfaces is no...
Several other conditions can damage the hip joint and lead to hip replacement. A previous infection in the hip joint may cause long-term changes that lead to arthritis. An infected joint during childhood or a...
There are three major types of childhood hip problems that can lead to arthritis in adult years: Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) Perthes disease Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) Each of these diseases develops...
Avascular necrosis (AVN) or osteonecrosis is a disease where the blood flow to the femoral head is damaged. Part of the bone of the femoral head then undergoes necrosis—it dies. When the bone dies, it...
Post-traumatic arthritis is arthritis of the hip joint that develops after an injury. The injury can be a severe contusion to the hip or a fracture of one of the bones within or near the...
Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic disease that affects multiple joints in the body. Unlike osteoarthritis, which is due to age and wear, rheumatoid arthritis is the result of a disease process throughout the entire body....
Osteoarthritis is the most common diagnosis for patients having total hip replacement. It is also the most common type of arthritis. The vast majority of all patients, men and women, undergoing hip replacement have osteoarthritis....
The process of degeneration, or breakdown, of a hip joint is a gradual one but may proceed at different speeds depending upon the cause. When one part of the hip is affected by disease or...
A joint is a structure in the body, made up of two or more bones, that allows one bone to move against another. Movement through joints lets different parts of the body change positions. The...