You don’t have to be a practicing doctor or attending professional hip courses as part of your ongoing training for it to be useful to know what causes hip pain and other problems. Our hips are a constant source of strange and frustrating problems in life, especially as we get older. But what exactly is it that causes our hips to give out and cause us this agony?

1. Injury to Core Muscles

We Aussies are a sporty and athletic nation, in general. We either love to play or watch sports, and as it happens we are into some pretty heavily physical games and sports down here like Rugby and Aussie Rules, not to mention other dangerous sports like surfing. Of course, you can get injured pretty seriously even playing the more ‘gentle’ games like tennis or golf.

Common injuries to the core muscles, most of which happen to athletes and sports enthusiasts (but not exclusively), are a frequent source of hip pain. Examples include athletic pubalgia, sports hernias, and more. Most sports require a great amount of exertion around the core muscles, so they naturally are a high-risk area.

2. Tendonitis

Tendonitis affects many parts of the body, of course, but you get a good idea if tendonitis is the source of your hip pain by trying some simple exercises like lifting your leg and drawing it toward your body. Normally, when you’re armed with a healthy hip flexor, there shouldn’t be any pain or difficulty in doing this.

If, however, you do experience discomfort while trying this relatively simple move, it can point to tendonitis in the hip region that is causing your hip pain. In more severe cases, the pain will come even when you’re doing something more normal like just bending down to pick something up from the ground and then standing back up again.

3. Labral Tears

There is an important ring of cartilage around your hip socket called the labrum, and its function is to make sure that the ball of your thigh bone stays right in place. A tear in the labrum can cause quite sudden, acute pain in the hip and groin region, and is also characterized by sudden limitation of movement. That limitation of movement is most keenly felt by dancers and other active individuals who may rely on almost no limit of movement in that region!

4. Bursitis

Your joints all around your body are supported by fluid-filled sacs called bursae. Bursitis is a condition in which these sacs become inflamed and swell up and start to rub right against your bone. If this happens in your hip, then your hip pain will likely be felt on the outside portion of your hips, and around your buttocks and thighs.

Bursitis is most commonly associated with the elderly, and unlike some of the other items in this list isn’t linked to any specific physical activity. It can be aggravated by having to walk up and down steep stairs frequently, and can hurt if one sleeps on one’s side, but it’s also easily treatable with a cold compress.

5. Osteoarthritis

If your hip pain is a dull, throbbing and fairly persistent pain, the most likely cause is osteoarthritis. The breakdown of cartilage causes the joints to become stiff and swollen, and it’s a condition sometimes brought on by very stressful or straining physical activities --- including contact sports --- done over long periods of time.

6. Problems with the Pelvic Floor

Finally, it’s quite possible that your hip pain is actually being caused by other parts of your pelvis, but the pain is being transmitted through your hip, or at least it feels as though that’s the case. If you also feel pain in your groin region and you happen to be on your period then you might be suffering from fibroids or endometriosis, among other things.