Find out what may be behind your hip pain and what to do next.
Pain on the outside of your hip can make life hard. Walking, running, stairs, exercise and sleeping on that side may all start to hurt. If you’re experiencing this, trochanteric bursitis could be one possible cause. It is a condition that can form part of greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS).
At The Alignment Studio, we provide trochanteric bursitis physiotherapy in Melbourne CBD. First, we assess factors that may be contributing to your pain. Then we build a rehab plan made for you.
The greater trochanter is a bony bump at the top of your thigh bone. It sits on the outer side of your hip.
Trochanteric bursitis is a type of hip bursitis. Bursae are small, fluid-filled sacs that cushion and help muscles slide over the bone.
Today, many clinicians use a broader term: greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS). With GTPS, outer hip pain may come from the gluteal tendons, not just the bursa.
This is why a proper assessment matters. Not everyone with pain on the outside of the hip has bursitis alone.
You may notice some of these:
Other problems can cause hip pain that feels the same. These include hip osteoarthritis and sacroiliac joint problems. If hip pain affects your sleep, walking or exercise, book your hip assessment to find out why.
Trochanteric bursitis and GTPS rarely have just one cause. Things that may add to it include:
Gluteal tendinopathy is closely linked to this pain. It affects the tendons that join your buttock muscles to the side of your hip. These tendons have been compared to the rotator cuff of your hip.
GTPS is more common in women and in middle age. We look at each cause with you.
Physiotherapy for trochanteric bursitis usually starts with finding what puts strain on your outer hip. Then we change what makes it worse. We help you build back your hip strength and how well it works. Results vary, and your plan depends on what we find.
We may ask about your symptoms and check how your hip moves, including its strength. We may assess how your hip responds to different movements and activities during your appointment. Then we help identify factors that may be contributing to your symptoms.
Where it helps, we use biomechanical assessment to see how your body moves. We only suggest specialist tests or scans when they may help.
We help you spot the walking, exercise, stairs or sleeping positions that make your hip worse. We then suggest temporarily modifying these activities while gradually building your tolerance.
Your rehabilitation may include gradually building hip strength. Treatment may include strengthening your gluteal (buttock) muscles and your hip abductors. Hip abductors lift your leg out to the side.
We also train everyday movements to build strength and hip control. Your program moves at your pace, with personalised care.
Where it suits you, we may add hands-on treatment and Shockwave therapy. We use it in conjunction with your exercises, not in place of them. Exercise-based rehabilitation forms an important part of your plan.
Our goal is to help you get back to things that matter to you. That may include:
Your physio checks how your hip and body move and how strong it is.
Your plan may include education, activity changes, exercises made for you and hands-on physiotherapy where it suits you. We then build up your rehab over time.
Our goal is more than short-term relief. We want you to understand what adds to your pain, how to manage pain and how to support injury prevention.
No one exercise plan suits every hip. What you need depends on your assessment and where you are in your rehab.
Your program may include:
We build up each exercise based on your symptoms and what your hip can handle. Exercises picked from an online list may not suit your stage of rehab.
Clinical Pilates may support your rehab with guided, controlled strength work.
There is no set time to recover from trochanteric bursitis.
Recovery may depend on:
We track progress in steps, like better sleep, longer walks, stronger hips and a return to normal activity.
The Alignment Studio provides physiotherapy in Melbourne CBD from our Collins Street clinic. Our AHPRA-registered physiotherapists bring experience in assessment and rehabilitation, backed by over 50 years of combined clinical experience. Our clinic services are all under one roof.
You can use Clinical Pilates, remedial massage therapy, Shockwave therapy and related services where they fit your physiotherapy plan.
Yes, physiotherapy can help trochanteric bursitis. Your physio looks at what is putting strain on your hip. Then they build a plan around managing how much you ask of your hip, strength work and education.
Staying active is important, so you may not need to stop walking completely. You may need to change how far you walk, your pace or the hills. Your physio helps you find a level your hip can handle, then builds it up over time.
There is no list of exercises that everyone must avoid. Activities that keep causing severe pain may need changing while you build strength. Your physio can show you what to change and when to bring it back. Your assessment shows what suits your hip.
No, they are not the same condition. Gluteal tendinopathy affects the tendons, while bursitis affects the bursa. Both can cause pain on the outside of the hip. Both may fall under the broader term greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS). They can also happen together, which is why assessment matters.
Ongoing pain on the outside of your hip can affect your walking, sleep, exercise and routine. An individual assessment can help find what is adding to your pain.
Our Melbourne physiotherapists are AHPRA-registered and can check your hip and build a treatment and rehab plan for you. The plan focuses on improving your strength, movement and function.
Experiencing persistent pain on the outside of your hip? Book a trochanteric bursitis physiotherapy assessment in Melbourne with The Alignment Studio today.
Call 03 9650 2220 or book online today.
