Have you heard of Greater Trochanter Pain Syndrome?
This is a very specific type of Hip pain that responds very well to Physiotherapy treatment if diagnosed correctly. It occurs most commonly in women aged 40-60 and lasts on average 15 months because of delayed diagnosis! Greater trochanter pain syndrome has a massive effect on your day to day life!
Common signs and symptoms of GTPS:
- Pain lying on affected hip
- Pain standing after sitting for prolonged time
- Discomfort climbing stairs
- Pain referring down side of leg to just below knee
What is Greater Trochanter pain Syndrome?
It is the inflammation of the bursa & gluteus medius tendon.
The sac of fluid known as the bursa that sits on top of your hip joints as shown in the picture on the right, is designed to reduce friction between the bone and the overlying soft tissue structures such as the ITB, Gluteus maximus and TFL.
However, the sac of fluid is not designed to resist friction AND compression. When these two forces occur simultaneously that is when you start developing inflammation in the bursa & gluteus medius tendon.
Causes of Excess Compression
1) Dynamic instability in pelvis causing recurrent compression on these structures as you move from day to day
2) Regularly sitting cross legged
3) Excessive tightness in the soft tissue structures that run over the bursa & tendon.
Fix Me!
As I said at the start of the article, this problem responds very well to treatment! You don’t need to continue being in pain every day. There are many, many women that only come to see us after they have been struggling with this problem for 3-4 months! This is unnecessary, we can help reduce your pain significantly with specific treatment.