“Hip pain present while standing may represent degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis) of the hip,” says Devin B. Peck, MD, oowner of Austin Interventional Pain in Austin, TX.
The hip joint consists of a ball-and-socket design. The bone “ball” is not supposed to make contact with the bone of the socket.
There’s cartilage in between to prevent this. Wearing down of the cartilage is what occurs in osteoarthritis. Wearing down means less shock absorption.
Sometimes the cartilage is so worn down that these bony portions begin rubbing against each other, causing hip pain, including when you stand up.
Dr. Peck explains, “Risk factors include obesity, advanced age or prior trauma. This is the most common cause of hip pain in people over age 65 and can present as groin or thigh pain.”
Another risk factor is lack of weight-bearing exercise such as leg presses, squats and walking lunges.
“Severe, sudden onset of severe hip pain which may occur only with standing should raise concern for hip fracture.
“This can occur without significant trauma in patients with osteoporosis.”
In fact, a hip fracture can be caused by standing up from a seated position in someone with very brittle bones.
“Trochanteric bursitis is another common cause of hip pain which can be present when standing up, walking, climbing steps, driving or lying on the side.”
Solutions
“If pain is due to osteoarthritis, exercises that strengthen the abductors of the hip (gluteus minimus, gluteus medius, vastus lateralis) are important,” says Dr. Peck.
“A simple exercise is to lie on your back with knees bent, squeeze the buttocks, and hold for five seconds for 30 reps.
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“To make this more challenging, you can lift your pelvis up off the floor and hold for five seconds.
“Be sure to brace the abdominal muscles while doing this to avoid low back strain.”
Dr. Peck’s areas of interest include chronic and acute musculoskeletal pain, sports injuries, arthritis and cancer pain, among many others. Austin Interventional Pain was established in 2019.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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