Persons who are suffering from chronic hip pain may be afflicted with an injury known as greater trochanteric bursitis. This injury is defined as an inflammation of the bursa, which is a part of the hip that is situated next to the femur. The bursa is very important in the proper functioning of your joints; it absorbs excess force that is obtained as your legs swing and your feet hit the ground. The bursa also helps the muscles in your legs to expand and contract smoothly. However, because the bursa plays such a central role in the movement of your body, it can easily become injured after being exposed to constant and regular pressure. When the bursa becomes irritated or inflamed, a sharp pain in the hip results, oftentimes preventing people from doing the activities that they love.
This condition can be caused by a number of factors including overuse of the body's hip muscles during a sport or rheumatoid arthritis, although it sometimes arises without a definitive cause. The bursa can also become inflamed due to orthopedic defects. For instance, people with flat feet or uneven legs are likely to receive this injury. However, no matter how you become burdened with this hip injury, the pain that it causes can have major negative effects on your life. This condition can inhibit even the most basic physical activities, such as walking. Although some patients' greater trochanteric bursitis fades away with time, for most others, the pain will persist if they do not receive adequate treatment.
Your doctor or health specialist might suggest a variety of different treatments to help heal your chronic hip pain. For instance, extended periods of rest, icing of the inflamed area, and cortisone shots are all very common treatments that can be easily administered. Unfortunately, many sufferers of this injury receive little to no benefit from these methods. In some cases, your doctor might suggest that your inflamed bursa be surgically removed from your hip. This procedure is both very painful and very costly.
Thankfully, surgery is not your only option when it comes to treating severe hip injuries. Services such as those offered at the Institute of Regenerative & Molecular Orthopaedics use stem cell technology to treat greater trochanteric bursitis without resorting to surgical methods. Specially designed stem cell utilization techniques enable professionals to remedy orthopedic problems such as hip pain without the bothersome complications that are involved with surgery.