Hip Pain Treatment in Norwest & Dural
The Short Version
Hip pain is three different problems wearing the same name. Pain on the outside of the hip is usually tendon related and gets worse with stretching and rolling, which is what most people are told to do. Pain in the groin is usually the joint itself. Pain in the buttock is often the back. Getting the location right at the first visit is most of the work, because the three have completely different treatment. All three respond to progressive loading, and none of them respond well to rest.
The Hip Pain We See Most
The most common version is a woman in her forties or fifties with pain on the outside of the hip that is worst lying on that side at night and worst again getting out of a car. She has been told it is bursitis, has been stretching it and rolling it for months, and it has slowly got worse. Both of those things make this particular problem worse, which is why it has not improved. The second most common is someone with deep groin pain that catches when they squat or get out of a low chair. That is usually the joint, and it needs a different conversation entirely.
Do You Need a Scan?
Usually not first. Hip pain is diagnosed clinically, by where it hurts and what provokes it, and imaging changes the plan less often than people expect. Worth knowing: the imaging findings often blamed for hip pain are extremely common in people without any. Cam morphology, labral changes and mild arthritic change all appear routinely on the scans of pain free people. A scan that finds something is not a scan that explains something. We would send you for imaging if we suspect hip joint arthritis and it changes the management conversation, if there is a possible stress fracture, meaning groin pain in a runner that worsens with every step and hurts at night, if there is significant trauma, unexplained weight loss, fever or a history of cancer, if surgery is being genuinely considered, or if you have had a proper trial of loading and have not responded.
Whether you need imaging is something we work out with you at the appointment, based on where it hurts and what we find when we examine you. Your practitioner will talk you through whether a scan would change anything, and organise it if it would.
When You Should Be Seen Urgently
A few hip presentations need looking at quickly. If any of these fit, tell us when you book.
Go to emergency if you can’t weight bear at all after a fall, if the leg looks shorter or turned out, or if the hip is hot, swollen and painful with a fever.
Book in with us soon, and tell us when you book, if you’re a runner with groin pain that’s got worse with every session and now hurts at night, because that can be a bone stress injury and it doesn’t respond to pushing through. If there’s been significant trauma. If you’ve got unexplained weight loss, fever or a history of cancer. Or if the hip is genuinely giving way rather than just feeling weak.
Worth mentioning if it applies: if you’re on long term steroids, have had a lot of alcohol exposure, or have had chemotherapy, tell us. There’s an uncommon hip condition associated with those that we’d want to rule out early rather than late.
If none of that sounds like your hip, you’re in the right place, and the rest of this page is what we’d do about it.
Where It Hurts Tells Us What It Is
Where the pain sits is the most useful piece of information you can give us, and it narrows this down before anything else does.
Outside of the hip, over the bone
Front of the hip in an athlete
Deep in the groin, at the front
Pain that only shows up lying on that side at night
In the buttock
Stretching and rolling that made it worse
How We Actually Treat It
The plan depends entirely on which of the three hips you’ve got, which is why the first appointment is mostly about working that out.
For pain on the outside of the hip, which is the most common by a distance, the treatment is close to the opposite of what most people have been told. Stretching it and rolling it compresses the tendon against the bone, which is exactly what’s irritating it. So the first thing we usually do is get you to stop doing the thing you’ve been diligently doing for months. Then load it, progressively, with the hip in positions that don’t compress the tendon.
This is one of the clearest results in musculoskeletal medicine. Education plus exercise beats a corticosteroid injection for pain on the outside of the hip, not just early but still a year later. The injection works, and it works faster than doing nothing. It just doesn’t hold.
The injection works, and it works faster than nothing. It just doesn’t hold, and the exercise group beat it both early and a year later.
For groin and joint related pain, the approach is different again. Loading the hip through range it tolerates, building the muscles around it, and having an honest conversation about what the joint is likely to do over time.
For buttock pain, we usually need to work out whether it’s actually the back first.
What Recovery Actually Looks Like
Weeks one to three. Mostly about stopping the things making it worse. For outside of hip pain that means no stretching it, no rolling it, no sleeping with the top leg dropped across, and no standing hanging on one hip. That alone changes things for a lot of people.
Weeks three to eight. Loading. Progressive, specific, and initially unimpressive. Night pain lying on that side is usually the first thing to improve.
Weeks eight to sixteen. Building back to normal. Stairs, hills, walking distance, running if that’s what you do.
Tendons run on a slow clock. Three months is a realistic timeframe for outside of hip pain, and people who expect three weeks give up in week four.
What Else It Could Be
“Hip pain” covers four different problems that happen to sit near each other, and they don’t share a treatment plan. Where it hurts is most of how we tell them apart.
Outside of the hip, over the bony point. Almost always tendon related. Worse lying on that side at night, worse getting out of a car. Made worse by stretching and rolling, which is what most people have been doing.
Deep in the groin. Usually the joint itself. Catches on squatting or getting out of a low chair, and often has a restricted range you can feel.
In the buttock. Frequently the back rather than the hip, and worth separating early.
Front of the hip in an athlete. Often a flexor or joint related issue tied to a specific movement, and it needs the movement looked at, not just the hip.
Worth knowing about scans. The findings usually blamed for hip pain, things like cam shape, labral changes and mild arthritic change, turn up routinely on the scans of people with no hip pain at all. A scan that finds something isn’t the same as a scan that explains something.
Related pages: Lower Back Pain, Sciatica, Total Hip Replacement Rehab.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long will hip pain take to settle? For pain on the outside of the hip, expect about three months. Tendons adapt slowly and there's no way around that. You should feel changes much earlier than three months, especially at night, but the full rebuild takes that long.
I've been told it's bursitis. Is that right? Probably not, or at least not the whole story. Most pain on the outside of the hip is tendon related rather than a simple inflamed bursa, and that matters because the treatment is different. Rest and anti inflammatories don't fix a tendon problem.
Should I keep stretching it and rolling it? For pain on the outside of the hip, no, and this is the single most useful thing on this page. Both compress the tendon against the bone, which is what's irritating it. It's why months of diligent stretching often makes it slowly worse.
Should I get a cortisone injection? It works, and faster than doing nothing. But in a trial of 204 people, education plus exercise beat the injection at eight weeks and was still ahead a year later. If you've already had one and it's worn off, that's a common story rather than a failure on your part.
Is it my hip or my back? Genuinely one of the more common questions, and the answer is often some of both. Buttock pain in particular is frequently the back. Getting that sorted at the first appointment saves months of treating the wrong thing.
Do I need a referral to book? No. You can book directly with any of our chiropractors or physiotherapists. If you've got a GP care plan or you're claiming through a fund, bring the paperwork and we'll work with it.
Who Treats This at Strive
Hip pain is treated at both clinics by our physiotherapists and chiropractors. Because the three main hip patterns need different treatment, the first appointment is mostly about working out which one you have.
Tammy Ong
Women’s Health Physiotherapist
Rehabilitation Pilates Instructor
Tammy helps women and active individuals recover from injury, improve movement, and return to the activities they love.
Warren Zhou
Chiropractor, competitive powerlifter, and trail runner who treats athletes from the gym floor to the platform to the start line.
Tegan Webster
Chiropractor
Providing evidence-based care to help patients achieve their health goals.
Richard Kan
Sports Chiropractor
Strength and Conditioning Coach
Helping athletes and active individuals recover, perform, and stay injury-free.
Rawan Haydar
Physiotherapist
Passionate about personalised care that supports recovery and long-term wellbeing.
Jess Larder
Physiotherapist
Passionate about rehabilitation, movement, and helping people achieve their goals.
Getting Here
We treat hip and groin pain at both our Norwest and Dural clinics.
Norwest
301/10 Century Circuit NORWEST NSW 2153
Inside Norwest Central Building Complex - 8 - 12 Century Circuit
Entry doors next to Zaatar and Zucchero Cafe
Operating Hours
Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm
Sat 8am - 12pm
Sun CLOSED
Ready to Sort Your Hip Out?
We treat hip and groin pain for patients from across The Hills, including Dural, Round Corner, Kenthurst, Glenhaven, Castle Hill, Kellyville, Baulkham Hills, Cherrybrook and Bella Vista, at our Norwest and Dural clinics, and in Canberra at Giralang. Book online or call and we will get you assessed.