Hip fractures usually occur in the upper portion of the femur (thigh) bone. It is common and usually occurs in the elderly due to weakened bone density. It can also happen at any age with high impact injuries like motor vehicle accidents and falls from heights. It is usually very painful and most often requires surgical repair. Depending on the circumstances, a hip replacement, or a reduction (repair) with use of hardware to fixate the fracture or break is performed. Immediate rehab efforts are important to prevent excessive bed rest which leads to many other complications including blood clots. So, you can expect to be prompted to get on your feet the day after surgery and start physical therapy. There are usually very specific limitations for some time after surgery including how much weight you should put through that leg with standing and walking, as well as limitations on certain hip joint motions and combinations of motions. Plan on having your PT evaluation with Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy and Wellness very soon after your surgery. Call us to get it scheduled as soon as you know when your surgery is. We will make sure you know exactly how to manage your injury or post op repair.

Arthritis in the hip joint from life’s wear and tear and natural degeneration is osteoarthritis. This is very common and is expected to occur to some degree in everyone. Not everyone will have pain from it though. Many other circumstances contribute to having a painful arthritic hip joint. If your joint surfaces have lost their cushion (cartilage), and in addition to that, the hip has poor support and control of movement due to weak and/or tight hip muscles, the quality of articulation paired with the arthritic changes in the joint, is very likely a situation that will inevitably be painful. When you are told that your hip pain is due to arthritic changes, your natural conclusion is that you are either stuck with that situation or are destined for a joint replacement. Not so fast! Get yourself strong again. Improve your flexibility and trunk stability. Learn improved techniques for getting up from your seat, squatting, and stepping up/down steps and curbs and then see where you stand. If you can achieve those things and still have significant hip pain from arthritis, then you know you may need to have a joint replacement. If you do make those improvements before surgery though, you’re post of recovery will be much easier and shorter. Call us or come by to talk about it. We can guide you through the decision-making process and plan your success.

If you have exhausted your efforts in resolving your pain caused by an arthritic hip or have sustained a significant fracture to your hip, having a joint replacement may have been suggested by your orthopedic surgeon. Surgery should always be you last option, and good pre-op education and preparation is essential to a successful outcome. There are some varieties of techniques and types of hip replacements, and your surgeon will guide you on what is best for you and your individual circumstances. If you have the luxury of time to prepare for your surgery, pre-operative physical therapy can really make your post operative recovery easier and possibly shorter. You can come by to talk to us to learn more about what to expect after surgery and what physical therapy will be like. When you know your surgery date, you can schedule your initial evaluation with us and make plans to start your successful recovery.

A bursa is a fluid filled cushion that is present in various locations in your body to protect soft tissues like muscle and tendon from boney ridges. With the hip it is common that the trochanteric bursa can become inflamed due to faulty movement caused by imbalances of strength and mobility in the trunk and hip. Yes, meds and steroid injections can provide temporary relief for this but will not address the continued cause and the pain will inevitably return after the anti-inflammatory benefits wear off. Strengthening your core and hips, gaining segmental mobility throughout your trunk, and learning new movement techniques for activities of daily life, especially getting up from your seat, stepping up steps and squatting, will provide a more permanent solution. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are expert in creating personalized programs addressing hip pain, that will get you feeling better, able to manage your condition long term and back on track quickly. Call us. We can get you started right away.

Snapping sensations when the hip is in motion, that in some cases causes pain and weakness is how this condition is characterized. There are three types of snapping hip syndrome. These are internal, external, and intra-articular with external being the most common, occurring more in females than males. It can be associated with activities that involve high repetition hip flexion such as gymnastics, dance, and soccer. The common types are caused by tendon tissues popping over boney prominences. Physical therapy programs will as with many others, be individualized according to your specific impairments and abnormalities of function and structure. Soft tissue techniques, muscle re-education, strengthening, and functional movement training will be what you can expect. Call us or come by if you have questions about your condition, what a plan of care would look like and to schedule an evaluation to get started.

Hip weakness can occur just as it can occur anywhere else in the body. Changes in lifestyle, activity level, or being sick and sedentary for a period of time are all common reasons for becoming weak. That instability opens the door for worsening positional control, tendonitis, bursitis, advanced arthritis, impingement syndrome, subluxation, and various injuries with activity. Your recognition that there is weakness and instability in your hips, pelvis and trunk, is your red flag to be proactive to prevent injury and progressive pathologies. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are expert in creating personalized programs for regaining your strength and stability as well as giving you the knowledge and training to have a better quality of movement and protection from injury than before. We will guide your full return to safely enjoying an active lifestyle. Call us. We can get you started right away.

A subluxation of your hip is when, due to instability or trauma, your hip joint “almost” or partially dislocates but not fully. Whether this happens from trauma or due to joint instability with a non-traumatic activity, it is a sign that you need to improve your muscular strength and stability as well as retrain yourself physically and mentally to use improved movement technique to protect your hip joint. Otherwise, you are more vulnerable to further injury and possibly a full dislocation. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are expert in creating personalized programs for rehabilitating your hip instability and subluxation, ensuring your full return to safely enjoying an active lifestyle. Call us. We can get you started right away.

If you have dislocated your hip and it is still dislocated, you need to get to the emergency room closest to you. The longer you wait the harder and more painful it will be to reduce (put back in place). Having a dislocation can also cause damage to nearby nerves and blood vessels. Once you have been seen by your orthopedic specialist and your hip dislocation has been addressed, it can take a few months to recover while carefully limited specific hip motions. Physical therapy will be required to educate you on movement precautions and how to integrate them into your daily activities. You will also need to improve your muscular strength and stability and become re-educated on body mechanics and optimal movement technique to protect your hip. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are expert in creating personalized programs for rehabilitating your hip instability, ensuring your full return to safely enjoying an active lifestyle. Call us. We can get you started right away.

A labral tear is a tear in the ring of cartilage tissue around the head (ball) of the femur (upper leg bone) that holds the “ball in the socket”. Having a tear in this tissue creates an unstable joint prone to subluxation if not dislocation. The severity of the tear dictates the severity of the instability and impact on your function. Symptoms may be pain, reduced range of motion, and the impression of the hip “getting stuck”. Diagnostics will be required to determine the severity and therefore the optimal route for treatment. Your surgeon will advise you on your best option. In some cases, physical therapy is recommended instead of surgery. If compromised, despite symptom presentation, death of bone tissue could occur without continued blood flow. In all cases physical therapy should be provided after surgery. Stabilization training, balanced movement system mobility, and improving positional awareness and control is required regardless of the option for addressing your tear. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are expert in creating personalized programs for rehabilitating your hip instability due to a labral tear, ensuring your full return to safely enjoying an active lifestyle. Call us. We can get you started right away.

Due to our tendency to move excessively through our lumbar spine, as well as unknowingly adapt our movement patterns to accommodate weakness and other circumstances, it is very common to develop tightness in hip muscles. If you watch people walk you will agree that it is very common to see a gait pattern characterized by having the toes pointed outward. This is usually because the hips are externally rotated. A similar position is often assumed in sitting as well. In this externally rotated position, several of your posterior hip muscles are spending more time shortened, not having the opportunity to lengthen. This imbalance of daily motion and muscle flexibility can contribute to nerve entrapments in the hip that cause radiating symptoms down the leg, excessive burden on the lumbar segments causing back pain, advanced degenerative changes, and other common conditions. Some people are inherently prone to have tightness. Sometimes it is something that develops gradually. Either way there is usually some level of improvement that is able to be achieved with proper exercise, stretching, and specific soft tissue mobilization techniques. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are expert in achieving that for you. Get in soon to see us to make some beneficial life changes to manage your tightness and the problems that it is causing you.

Sciatica is a condition in which you have pain, numbness, or burning down the path of the sciatic nerve which is the largest nerve in your body. This path travels through the posterior hip and back of the thigh where it bifurcates into two smaller nerves that travel through back of calf and foot. It originates from the lower lumbar and upper sacral nerve roots. It is commonly explained as a condition originating from a nerve impingement at one or more of those segments of the spine. Impingements at the spine could be due to lumbar stenosis and/or lumbar disc derangements. There are also multiple sites along the pathway of the nerve that can have their own entrapments. The combination of having tight hip and leg muscles, a habit of moving excessively from the lumbar spine for daily activities and compromised soft tissue mobility along the path of the nerve can really make things confusing as you try different efforts for relief. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are experts in differential diagnosis, evaluating all of the contributing factors to your sciatica and creating personalized programs for cases just like yours, that will get you feeling better, able to manage your condition and back on track to more tolerable activity sooner. Call us. We can get you started right away.

There are many ways that a nerve can become impinged in your lumbo-pelvic complex and/or hip region. Some are changeable and some are not. Most everyone has challenges with positional awareness and control which also involve deficits in or imbalances in joint mobility, soft tissue flexibility, strength, and endurance. Unless you really improve, if not correct those issues you do not know if your nerve impingement, be it from degenerative changes, injury, or lumbar disc derangement should require anything other than physical therapy. Your team at Breaux Bridge Physical Therapy are experts in creating personalized programs for cases of lumbar and hip complex nerve impingement that will get you feeling better, able to manage your condition and back on track sooner. Call us. We can get you started right away.