Acupuncture for hip pain offers a realistic, effective, and natural treatment for relieving a wide variety of hip conditions such as bursitis, sciatica, arthritis, and tendonitis. Unfortunately, traditional Western medicine often approaches pain conditions to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause which normally involves medication therapy or in serious cases, surgery. Although these methods can be effective, they do also come at a price monetarily and more importantly with side effects. In today’s day and age, you will find many people embracing and seriously researching the effects of acupuncture to get pain relief.
Understanding Your Hip Pain Through Acupuncture
Hip pain is not always an indicator that there is something chronic going on, and it may just need rest from daily activities resolving on its own. Alternatively, if the pain you are feeling in your hip is consistent, severe, or gradually worsening, it is important to look more closly at your condition. There are a plethora of conditions that can cause hip pain, and these hip pain conditions do tend to be more prevalent and severe with age.
Common Hip Pain Conditions & How Acupuncture Helps:
- Bursitis – this happens when the fluid-filled small sacs known as bursae become irritated or inflamed. Since these sacs are responsible for cushioning the tendons and bones near the joints, when they become inflamed or irritated this causes the hip to be in pain especially after sitting or lying down as well as repetitive activities.
- Acupuncture reduces inflammation in the body. When treating bursitis with acupuncture, the goal is to reduce inflammation in the bursae, and improve blood flow to the hip area.
- Acupuncture reduces inflammation in the body. When treating bursitis with acupuncture, the goal is to reduce inflammation in the bursae, and improve blood flow to the hip area.
- Arthritis – this happens when the joints become inflamed, and one of the most common reasons for hip pain. The pain from arthritis is an aching, dull pain that becomes worse with either activity or extended sitting. This is also a degenerative condition meaning that the pain can increase over time.
- Acupuncture works for treating hip arthritis improving blood flow, increasing pain relief in the joints, and decreasing inflammation.
- Acupuncture works for treating hip arthritis improving blood flow, increasing pain relief in the joints, and decreasing inflammation.
- Hip Fractures – this happens from falling often more prevalent in older people over 55 since there is reduced bone density.
- Although acupuncture cannot heal a fracture, the work that acupuncture will do is after the healing. Acupuncture treatment after a person has had a fracture helps to restore muscle function, decrease scar tissue formation, and provide pain relief for quicker recovery.
- Although acupuncture cannot heal a fracture, the work that acupuncture will do is after the healing. Acupuncture treatment after a person has had a fracture helps to restore muscle function, decrease scar tissue formation, and provide pain relief for quicker recovery.
- Sciatica – the sciatic nerve runs from the lower back and travels all the way down the leg to the foot, and if this nerve becomes compressed it can lead to sharp pain and/or numbness. This can happen on one or both sides of the body making even simple tasks like walking difficult.
- Acupuncture works for sciatica by decreasing nerve inflammation and relieving the pressure on the sciatic nerve helping with both the pain and numbness.
- Acupuncture works for sciatica by decreasing nerve inflammation and relieving the pressure on the sciatic nerve helping with both the pain and numbness.
- Tendonitis – this is localized pain in the hip where the tendons near the hip become inflamed. This can come with tenderness in the hip area and a throbbing feeling.
- Acupuncture helps tendonitis by decreasing swelling, improving circulation, and offering pain relief in the inflamed tendons.
- Acupuncture helps tendonitis by decreasing swelling, improving circulation, and offering pain relief in the inflamed tendons.
These are some of the more common possible conditions that cause hip pain, and western medicine doctors can do testing to figure out the true cause. However, even with these tests, it can still be difficult to determine the cause of the hip pain condition. Acupuncture treatment digs deeper into the root cause of your hip pain through very specific questions pertaining to your hip pain and lifestyle, pulse and tongue diagnosis, and physical examination.
Acupuncture for Hip Pain
When being treated for hip pain with acupuncture, the licensed acupuncturist will meet with you for a consultation and determine the appropriate treatment plan for your specific body makeup and hip condition. Acupuncture is truly individualized, and there is no way to determine without physically being seen exactly how many sessions are required to treat your hip pain.
The hair-thin acupuncture needles will be placed on specific points of the body, not necessarily in the hip, in order to activate the body’s natural healing ability sending the pain relief signal to the brain. These messages to the brain release neurotransmitters known as enkephalins and endorphins responsible for pain reduction in the body.
Acupuncture works as a hip pain treatment relieving tight tendons and muscles encouraging blood flow as well as oxygen throughout the hip joints. The most appealing part of acupuncture treatment? It is a non-invasive approach to pain reduction making it a healthier and safer option as opposed to medication or surgery. Licensed acupuncturists are required to have over 3,000 hours of acupuncture and herbology education as well as over 1,400 hours of specific acupuncture training which takes anywhere for 3 to 4 years to obtain from an accredited university. During their schooling, acupuncturists are required to learn about all of the meridians and acupuncture points on the body in great detail and precision.
Although there are many point patterns that will potentially be used when you are being treated for your hip pain, because again, acupuncture is individualized, there are specific points that are helpful in most hip pain conditions.
Acupuncture Points for Hip Pain:
- GB29 – located on the hip
- GB30 – located on the hip
- GB31– located on the hip
- GB34 – located on the side of the lower leg
- GB37 – located on the side of the lower leg closer to the ankle
- GB40 – located on the top of the foot
- GB44 – located on the toe
- BL40 – located on the back of the knee
- BL57 – located on the back of the calf
Ultimately, the goal in acupuncture treatment for the hip, as with most pain conditions, is to increase the blood flow to the affected area, and reduce pain and/or swelling in the joint. Between local and distal acupuncture points, and internal organ imbalances, TCM diagnosis and treatments are able to get to the root issue of a patient’s hip pain.
Hip pain is a very common condition treated by licensed acupuncturists across the US and globally. This is no surprise when the prevalence of hip pain in the US is 10% and escalates with age. According to the CDC, the number of total hip replacements tripled in patients ages 55 – 64 from 2000 – 2010. Acupuncture for hip pain has many benefits, and its efficiency and safety is finally being recognized in modern medicine for hip pain and more.