subject: snapping and pinching hip pain [print this page] snapping and pinching hip pain snapping and pinching hip pain
You want to be active, but you can't. It started with sudden clicking and snapping noises in and around your hip and groin area. You feel something sort of pops out of your hip when you walk or run. You have no idea what you did, but now your hip and groin hurt to the point where you can barely walk. Have you ever heard of coxa saltans?
Coxa saltans is a snapping hip syndrome with an audible or palpable click and snap about the lateral hip area. Chronic coxa saltans may be accompanied by tightness and variable discomfort ranging from aches and pinching to sharp, debilitating pain. There are a lot of causes for coxa saltans, but it can be simplified into three categories: internal, intra-articular and external causes.
Problems involving the iliopsoas tendon are the most common source of internal snapping hip. The snapping is due to the thickened and fibrotic iliopsoas tendon rubbing over various bony structures underneath it. This process is similar to when you snap your fingers to make that snapping noise. You may also experience unwelcomed clicking, pinching tightness and pain to the groin area. The iliofemoral ligaments moving over the hip joint capsule may also be involved.
Intra-articular causes for coxa saltans can be complicated and may require surgery. The good news is that intra-articular snapping hip seldom occurs unless there is some sort of trauma. A tear in the acetabular labrum and fracture fragments or loose bodies within the hip joint not only produce undesirable noises but sometimes excruciating pain upon entrapment.
External snapping hip is the most common. It's too boring for me to explain the functional and biomechanics relationship between the hip joint and its surrounding muscles, tendons and ligaments. Anyway, the hamstring tendon can snap with the ischial tuberosity. The tensor fascia latae, gluteus maximus and iliotibial band can also rub over the greater trochanter producing embarrassing clicks and pain.
You may wonder why does your hip suddenly snaps and clicks when you walk and run. Unless there is an injury that tears the acetabular labrum or chips a bone fragment within the hip joint, coxa saltans develops over the time. It's beyond the scope of this article for me to explain the pathological process of internal and external coxa saltans. By the time you hear and feel your hip snap and click, there is significant thickening, adhesion and fibrosis of the involved hip and groin muscles, tendons and ligaments.
Chronic coxa saltans can be symptomatic with variable pain and weakness. If you hear and feel clicking and snapping in your hip and groin when you walk and run, have it evaluated, especially for intra-articular causes. The possibility of labral tear or fracture fragments can be complicated and may require surgery.
Otherwise, internal and external coxa saltans can be successfully treated with chiropractic, soft tissue treatments and lateral pelvic stability program. The treatment's goal is not only to alleviate pain, clicking and snapping but to properly correct the initial problems that cause either internal or external snapping hip syndrome.
