Does your hip hurt when you get up from sitting? Do you experience pain in your hip when you stand up after being seated for a long time? Do you long for comfort at your hips after having a long day at work? Well if you are, you are not the only person going through this hip pain. It is a common issue among people who work sitting at the same posture for long hours. Here, I discuss the details information on this article “Why does my hip hurt when I get up from sitting?”. Also I included valuable suggestions about hip pain from physicians.
Our hips play a major role in bearing the most of the weight of our body and yet we take our hips for granted. If you are suffering through hip pain, it is high-time that you start caring for this part of your body. Read on to find out what causes hip pain and how you can get rid of it.
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What are the first signs of hip problems?
The first signs of hip problems can start from mild hip pain in the hip joint typically after being seated for prolonged hours at your desk. The pain could be acute or it can become chronic over time. You will need to find out the potential causes if the pain becomes long-standing. Some common symptoms of hip problems are joint pain, groin pain, swelling and tenderness of the hip, warmth in the hip area, difficulty in lying down on your back and loss of motion of the hip. Also, at times knee pain could be the only sign of a hip problem known as referred pain or radiated pain.
What are the causes of hip pain when standing from sitting?
The pain that you feel when standing from sitting could be due to the weakening of the hip muscles. When you sit at your desk you keeping your knees bent, it shortens and relaxes your hamstrings and also keep your hip flexors at the maximum shortened length. Continued prolonged hours of sitting reduces your muscle strength. Hence standing up from sitting can leave you feeling weaker at your glutes. You may also feel the pain due to your bad sitting posture.
The Main Causes of Hip Pain
According to Dr. Leon Reyfman,M.D (A member of the ASIPP ), There are many numbers of causes of hip pain. Including are main.
- Injuries
- Pinched nerves
- Arthritis
- Chronic disease, such as osteoporosis
- Cancer
The various Types of Hip Pain
Inside hip pain
This type of hip pain felt on the inner area of the hip with the hip joint itself, rather than issues with encompassing muscles or other delicate tissues.
Outside of the hip pain
This type of pain is the external part and Pain felt outwardly of the hip, the upper thigh frequently results from issues with ligaments, tendons or muscles around the hip. Problem with the hip joint itself, as opposed to problems with surrounding muscles or other soft tissues.
How do you diagnose hip problems?
Hip problems are diagnosed by health care professionals. They will go for a physical examination and may want to look at your medical history of hip problems. He will test your range of motion by rotating the hip internally and externally. He may also ask you to walk and see your movement to understand the problem further. Medical technician will also look for any inflammation or hip deformities. Palpating over the Swollen hips could be done to understand the intensity of the tenderness in that area. To understand the hip problems better, the health care professional might want to study images such as X- rays, CT Scans and MRI scans. He might also ask you to do blood test, urine test or collect joint fluid sample if required.
What happens to your body when you sit all day?
Sitting all day can have many adverse effects on your body that you are not even aware of. It can leave your glutes and legs weaker. Sitting all day meaning you are not using them as often as you should. This leads to muscle atrophy. Sitting all day can also result in tighter hips and bad back. Gaining weight is another adverse effect when you sit all day. studies show that you lose more calorie while standing than sitting. Also, most of the fat that you gain is stored around your tummy.
In addition to your physical health, your mental health can also deteriorate due to prolonged hours of sitting. You can develop anxiety and depression if you sit for extended hours on a regular basis. Sitting all day also put you at a greater risk of suffering from cancer, heart diseases and diabetes. it also increases the risk for risk for erectile dysfunction among men. Varicose vein and deep vein thrombosis are major complications that are associated with prolonged sitting.
Is it bad to sit at a desk all day?
If you sit at your desk all day you are not making use of your legs and glutes as you should. These muscles are at rest for most of the hours of the day. The less you use these muscles the weaker they get. Human bodies are created for carrying out different activities. Sedentary lifestyle will not allow you for different activities that your health and mind require to function fully.
Why are my hips stiff after sitting?
Hip stiffness could be due to keeping your hips and legs in the same posture for long hours. Sitting in the same posture for extended hours will lead to tighter and deactivated muscles. The muscles can gradually shorten and can result in adaptative shortening. Therefore, you feel pain in your glutes as you sit for long period of time.
How should I sit to reduce or prevent hip pain?
Go for an ergonomic chair if you are suffering from hip or back pain. Sit keeping your feet and pelvis aligned and spine straight. Sitting in this posture will reduce your hip pain. Ensure workplace ergonomics by properly positing your chair, keyboard and monitor. Also, avoid sitting cross -legged or leaning to one side for a long period of time.
Consider taking frequent breaks and walk around your office a little. This will help to lose the stiffened muscles at your hips and legs.
Try to perform hip stretches once or twice daily while you are seated at your office desk.
How do I know if my hip pain is serious?
You can treat hip pain at home but if you see any of the below conditions you need to seek help from a professional.
- Your hip joint looks deformed
- Difficulty on putting weight on your leg
- Difficulty in moving your leg or hip
- Experiencing severe pain in the hip area
- Sudden swelling of the hip area
- Experiencing pain in multiple joints
- Hip pain even after taking treatment at home
- Experiencing pain due to a fall or other injury
- Noticing symptoms of infection like fever, chills or redness
Can A Standing Desk Help My Hip Pain?
Image Source: Airrosti.com
Standing desk can be a solution to ease your hip pain. Experts suggest that avoiding static postures while standing and moving throughout the day will help to improve hip and back pain. Also, you can place foot on a small stool for a while and then alternate between the two legs. This ensures that you are changing your postures every now and then. A standing desk may also increase your productivity at your job.
You also need to make sure that you are in your comfortable footwear when considering doing your job standing at your desk. Try not to wear heels and change the insoles of your shoes as often as you require. Going to work with comfortable footwear would surely bring some improvement to your hip pain.
Does Arthritis Cause Stiff Hips When Sitting?
Stiffness while sitting can also occur due to arthritis and this is the most common reason for the stiffness in your glutes. Stiffness due to arthritis may feel different from the regular stiffness. The former will leave your hips in unbearable pain which might aggravate after any vigorous activity. Gentle movements might ease the pain a little. Arthritis is typically known get worse as we age. Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the most common types of arthritis.
How to stretch your hips at the desk?
If you are working seated in at your desk for long, you can do a little stretching that will help to relieve stiffness in the hip flexors and lose tight hamstrings. In this article we will give you three stretches that you can ideally do sitting at your desk. These simple stretching techniques will help to lose your tight hips and help alleviate lower back pain
Seated figure 4 piriformis stretches
- Sit on your chair straight and tall
- Bring your right ankle and place it over your left knee
- Gently lean forward to reach your torso while keeping your back straight
- Bend forward until you feel a stretch in your right glute and hip
- Press down so that you can feel the stretch deeper
- Now hold on to this position for 30 seconds
- Repeat 8 to 10 times on the same leg
- Now repeat the process 8 to 10 times by placing your left ankle over the right knee
Seated hip flexor stretches
- Sit on your chair straight and tall
- Make to move to the side of the chair
- extend your leg back backward while moving
- Maintain the balance by holding on to the chair
- Rock your pelvis forward gently and feel the stretch in the front of your hip
Seated hamstring stretches
- Sit at the edge of your chair
- Extend your right leg and make it straight in front of the body while touching the floor with its heel
- Sit up straight and push the navel towards the right thigh without leaning the trunk of the body forwards.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds
- Repeat this process 3 times on the same leg
- Repeat the process with your left leg
What types of Stretches help for hip pain?
There are some other stretches that you can do to get relief from hip pain. We bring you the best five stretches that you can do at your home to lose your hip flexors. Make sure you incorporate these stretches in your daily life activities to get the best result.
Standing stretch for hip pain
- Start with standing straight and tall
- Keep your feet width apart with your toes forward
- Bend your right knee and bring it upwards so that it gets close to your butt
- Pull your right toe with your hands towards the butt while pointing your knee towards the floor
- You may need to hold on to a counter to keep the balance
- Hold this position for 30 seconds
- Now repeat the process bending your left knee
Kneeling stretch for hip pain
- Start standing straight and tall
- Kneel with your left knee on the yoga mat
- Keep your right leg at a ninety-degree angle in front of you with foot flat
- Place one hand on your hips and the other on your right knee while keeping your back straight
- Lean slightly forward while maintaining an upright torso
- Keep your left knee pressed tight to the yoga mat while squeezing your back glutes
- Extend the free hand to take you left heel close to your hips
- Feel the stretch
- Hold this position for 30 seconds
- Now repeat kneeling your right knee and keeping your left leg in front of you
Active stretch
- Stand with your toes turned inward.
- Place your right foot on a chair keeping your left foot on the ground.
- Extend your arms in front of you keeping them at your chest level.
- Then raise up your arms slowly towards the ceiling keeping them straight
- Squeeze your butt and apply a gentle push to your pelvis forward
- This will straighten your left leg and deepen the bend in your right knee
- Feel the stretch at the front of your left hip
- Go back to your starting position slowly
- Repeat with the other leg
Supine stretch for Hip
- Lie on your back on the floor keeping your legs flat and your toes pointed towards the ceiling
- Bend your right knee keeping the foot flat on the floor
- Lace your fingers behind your right knee
- Now pull you right knee towards your chest keeping your back hips and right leg flat on the floor
- Keep pulling your right knee until you feel the stretch
- Hold this position for 30 seconds
- Repeat bending your left knee and keeping the right one straight
What exercises can help hips when get up from sitting position?
For the people who get into trouble to stand from sitting position they can try mobility exercises to ease the movement. These exercises will help to lose the stiffness of the hips. These are very helpful for senior citizens as they often struggle to stand up from sitting position. And the best part is that you only need one equipment to perform the basic simple exercise.
Get a sturdy chair and get ready to get stronger at your glutes back and legs and core.
Sit to stand exercise
- Walk your hips to the edge of the chair
- Bring your toes directly underneath your knees
- Cross your arms over your chest
- Bring your nose over your toes
- Now push yourself up with your legs
- Go back to your sitting position by pushing the hips towards the chair
- Now repeat the process for 10 times
Take this basic exercise one step further to make it more challenging by grabbing a pillow.
Place the pillow underneath your feet and perform the basic sit to stand exercise. The pillow will help to improve your balance as you stand up. Repeat the exercise for 10 times.
Now you are ready to make this exercise even more challenging by adding a ball to your movement.
Take a ball that is almost the size of a football and instead of crossing your arms hold the ball with your both hands to your chest level. Strech your hand as you perform the sit to stand exercise. Extending your hands will make the exercise more challenging than keeping your arms on your chest. Repeat this exercise for 10 times.
What type of chairs are good for hip pain?
Experts suggest that you should opt for an ergonomic setup if you are suffering from hip pain or injury. these chairs are highly adjustable and they can fit your body’s unique curves.
Doctors also prescribe a hip chair to improve the stiffness in your hips. A hip chair is a chair with tall legs which helps to keep your hip angle open and ease the movement. Make sure you perch at the edge of the chair when sitting on a hip chair.
Also, saddle seats are better than the flat ones since it helps to relieve the pressure on the hip joint cartilage and improves blood circulated around your hips.
Moreover, you can add an orthopedic cushion to your conventional chair if you are not willing to replace your office chair. This cushion will push your pelvis in the right direction and give your hips all the support that it requires.
How to sit on a chair while you have hip pain?
It is important to make sure that your pelvis and feet are properly aligned. You should also keep your spine straight while sitting.
Doctors also suggest that you should not sit cross-legged for a long time. Avoid leaning to one side to give your hip a good balance.
What treatment can help reducing hip pain from sitting?
There are several home remedies that you can take for alleviating the pain.
Rest
You need to avoid doing the activities that puts a lot f pressure on your hips. Also try not to sleep on your hips for longer if the pain aggravates.
>>→ Read also: Guide to Prevent Sciatica Pain While Sleeping
Cold and heat treatment for Hip Pain
You can treat your painful hips by the traditional cold and heat treatment. Wrap ice on a towel and rest it over your hips. Also, you can dip a towel in hot water and drain the water before resting it on your hips.
Taking painkillers
There are some common pain relievers that might take if you are suffering from unbearable pain. These include acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, etc.
Exercise for Hip Pain
You can incorporate stretching to your regular life activities to reduce hip pain.
If your problem persists even after taking home remedies, you should see a health care professional. There are several medical treatments given depending on the type of problem you are suffering from. These include surgery, acupuncture, crutches or cane, hydrotherapy and physical therapy and medication.
Conclusion
Hip pain are common issues that are faced by many in some point of their life. Try these simple stretches if you too are going through this problem. You can also take home remedies simultaneously to speed up the recovery process. If you still feel uncomfortable at your hips, you need to seek medical attention. We hope you got the answer on “why does my hip hurt when I get up from sitting”, enjoy your life with the wellness of your health.
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