01/02/2026
Hip Pain. Things you can do AT HOME to help.
Quick Answers
Q: Why does hip pain happen?
Hip pain is often misunderstood. While some cases come from the hip joint itself, many others come from referred pain from the lower back, myofascial trigger points, or mechanical imbalances in the feet, knees, or pelvis.
Q: What can I do at home to help hip pain?
Depends on the cause. For many cases you can self-massage using a lacrosse ball, mobility exercises, gentle core work, foot strengthening, temporary arch supports, and posture corrections can help significantly—especially if the pain is myofascial.
Q: How does Chiropractic help hip pain?
Chiropractic improves spinal and pelvic alignment, reduces nerve irritation, restores movement, and removes stress off of your nervous system so that your brain and body communicate more clearly and coordinate better healing.
Q: How do foot mechanics affect hip pain?
If the feet collapse inward, rotate outward, or lack stability, it changes the load on the knees and pelvis, creating stress across the hip muscles. This is often correctable.
Q: Can Chiropractic and home care together resolve chronic hip pain?
Yes—especially when the root cause is mechanical. When the pelvis, spine, and feet are corrected together, results are often long-lasting.
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Hip Pain Is Not Always a “Hip Problem”
People are often surprised to learn their hip pain is not coming from the hip joint at all.
There are several potential sources:
1. Hip pain referred from the lower back
I frequently see patients whose hip pain is actually caused by irritated nerves or joints in the lumbar spine (lower back). These pain patterns are well-documented in research and clinical practice.
When spinal joints stiffen or discs become irritated, symptoms can appear in the hip, thigh, or buttock.
2. Myofascial pain syndrome
This is one of the most common—but underdiagnosed—causes of hip discomfort.
Myofascial pain syndrome occurs when muscles and fascia develop trigger points—tiny areas of hyper-irritable tissue that refer pain to surrounding areas.
For example:
Tight gluteus medius refers pain to the outer hip
Piriformis tension can mimic sciatica
Gluteus minimus trigger points can feel like deep hip joint pain
These problems respond extremely well to self-care strategies at home.
3. Mechanical stress from the ground up
Your hips are greatly influenced by:
How your feet contact the ground
Arch height
Knee alignment
Pelvic tilt
Leg-length discrepancies
If the foundation (your feet) is unstable, the hips often compensate.
Chiropractic care evaluates the entire chain, not just the area of pain.
What Is Myofascial Pain Syndrome?
What Is Myofascial Pain Syndrome?
Myofascial pain syndrome happens when muscles become overloaded, strained, or chronically tight. Trigger points form inside the muscle, creating:
Deep, aching pain
Stiffness
Tightness upon waking
Pain with pressure
Referred pain down the leg or into the hip
Research shows that myofascial trigger points can mimic joint problems and nerve issues (Simons et al., Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction, 1999).
The good news?
Most trigger points respond extremely well to pressure, stretching, improved movement, and Chiropractic care.
Home Strategies to Help Hip Pain
Here are evidence-supported approaches and what you often teach patients in-office.
1. Lacrosse Ball Release for the Glutes & Hip Muscles
This is one of the most powerful self-treatments for myofascial hip pain.
How to do it:
Place a lacrosse ball against a wall or floor
Lean your gluteal muscles onto it
Roll gently over tender areas
Spend 60–90 seconds on each trigger point
I frequently teach patients to release:
Gluteus medius
Gluteus minimus
Piriformis
Tensor fasciae latae (TFL)
Patients often notice quick reduction in hip tension – within the first few days of doing this.
2. Exercises from Your Website
Visit the exercise video section on my website at Fairway Chiropractic to follow along with the routines we recommend for hip pain.
Hip mobility drills (Hip Greaser Exercises)
Hip Strethces
Hip / Glute Lacrosse Ball Muscle Release Exercises.
3. Improve Foot Strength & Mechanics
Weak feet or collapsed arches create internal rotation at the knee, which loads the hips improperly.
Helpful strategies include:
Short-foot exercises
Toe spreading
Arch doming
Balance training
Barefoot strengthening (as tolerated)
A temporary arch support can be extremely helpful while you’re strengthening the foot muscles.
Lots of great videos on this on our website too.
4. Consider Orthotics or Temporary Arch Supports
Poor foot mechanics can contribute to:
Hip pain
Pelvic tilt
Knee strain
Asymmetrical loading
You often recommend temporary supports while the patient builds intrinsic foot strength.
Orthotics may be needed when the structural issues are more significant.
5. Evaluate Pelvic Alignment
A tilted pelvis changes weight distribution across the hip joints and gluteal muscles. Even a small imbalance can create major pain when left unaddressed.
Patient Story: The Heel Lift That Changed Everything
A patient of yours had hip pain for many years. Chiropractic adjustments helped temporarily, but the pain always returned. When you reviewed her X-rays, you noticed a subtle pelvic tilt.
We added a 3 mm heel lift under one foot.
That small mechanical correction, combined with Chiropractic care and her home routine using a lacrosse ball, finally resolved her hip pain — and the improvement stuck.
Before the heel lift, she improved only for a few days at a time.
After the heel lift, the pain stayed away.
This is a powerful example of why looking at the whole person matters.
The ADIO Principle: Why Chiropractic Helps Even with Myofascial Pain
As you teach in your practice:
Above-Down, Inside-Out means that health is governed by the nervous system (Above-Down) and expresses through the body (Inside-Out).
Even when hip pain appears muscular, the nervous system controls:
How muscles activate
How tight or relaxed they are
How well they heal
How they coordinate with surrounding joints
Chiropractic adjustments restore proper signaling and remove interference so the body can heal from the inside outward.
The source of the power to your muscles is your Brain and nervous system. If there is stress on this communication pathway from misalignments of your spine, your muscles will not work as well as they should, nor will they heal as well as they could.
This is why Chiropractic often accelerates recovery from myofascial pain and mechanical hip issues.
When Hip Pain Requires Chiropractic Evaluation
You should be assessed if you experience:
Hip pain that keeps returning
Pain that worsens after sitting or bending
Pain that radiates into the thigh or buttock
Pain linked to pelvic tilt or leg-length issues
Hip pain combined with lower back stiffness
Hip pain that improves temporarily but not fully with stretching
A Chiropractic exam evaluates:
Pelvic alignment
Lumbar spine mobility
Trigger points
Foot mechanics
Leg-length discrepancies
Functional movement
Full Spine joint alignment assessment.
This whole-body approach is why Chiropractic helps hip pain that hasn’t responded to other care.
Peer-Reviewed References
Travell J, Simons DG. Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual. 1999.
Battié MC et al. The role of spinal loading in degeneration. Spine Journal. 2009.
McGill SM. Low back disorders: evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation. Human Kinetics; 2015.
Adams MA, Bogduk N, Burton K. The Biomechanics of Back Pain. 2002.
Neumann DA. Kinesiology of the hip: a mechanical perspective. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 2010.
Author
Dr. Nikola Dukovac, Chiropractor
Owner of Fairway Chiropractic Centre & Disc Repair Clinic.
Dr. Dukovac helps patients recover from hip pain using a combination of mechanical assessment, Chiropractic care, decompression when needed, and McGill Method–based rehabilitation. He has published peer-reviewed Chiropractic research, teaches movement principles to patients and professionals, and integrates the ADIO philosophy — that the body heals from Above-Down, Inside-Out.
