Hip pain at night

Hip pain is a common condition that can happen to anyone. It's most often seen in middle-aged or older people, but it can happen to younger people too. Hip pain at night is a different animal altogether and can be caused by many things, from bursitis, arthritis tendonitis, muscle strain, and more. There are solutions for hip pain at night, though they may not always be simple ones. This post will discuss what causes hip pain at night and some of the potential treatments you could try out!

Triggers of Hip Pain at night

The mattress you sleep on or your sleep position are the main culprits for triggering hip pain at night. If you have a too hard or soft mattress, even regular positions like lying on your back can cause added pressure on your joints, resulting in pain. The sleep position could put added stress on the pelvis and its ligaments.

Causes of Hip Pain

Many different causes of hip pain can be triggered at night. The conditions cover a wide range of ages, from pregnancy to wear and tear conditions found in older people, like arthritis.

Arthritis

The most common cause of hip pain is arthritis. This occurs when the cartilage that lines your joints starts to wear away, allowing bones to rub together and cause inflammation. Arthritis can happen in any joint, but it's especially prevalent in the hips since they see much use during activities like walking or running.

Osteoarthritis is the most common arthritis associated with pain in your hip. In the US, approximately 27 million people suffer from osteoarthritis pain. It's most commonly found in the mid-aged and elderly population. Still, it can also occur for younger adults involved with extreme exercise and sports like football or other high impact activities that stress your body.

Hip Bursitis

Another common cause of hip pain is bursitis. The bursa is tiny sacs filled with fluid to help cushion the joint. These sacs sit between your skin, and muscles can become inflamed, causing intense pain at night as you toss and turn in bed.

Hip bursitis is a painful condition and may require medical treatment to help reduce symptoms.

Some causes of hip bursitis are:

Tight muscles, tendons, and ligaments surrounding the hip joints

Aging

An abnormal hip structure that causes increased friction of your bones. This is common in people who are bowlegged or knock kneed.

Tendonitis

Hip pain resulting from tendonitis is common. It occurs when the tendons surrounding your hip bones become inflamed and begin to rub together, causing pain. Common causes of tendonitis are repetitive motion injuries like running, which will eventually cause inflammation of the tendons.

Piriformis/Sciatica

A weak piriformis muscle can cause numerous conditions, but sciatica pain is usually associated with it. The sciatic nerve runs from your lower back to the bottom of your foot. When it becomes pinched in the piriformis muscle, you can experience hip pain at night.

Sciatica is often mistaken for a herniated disc. Both conditions cause leg pain that extends into the knee, feet, or toes.

In addition to hip pain, sciatica is also associated with lower back pain.

Pregnancy

The most common cause for young females is pregnancy. This occurs due to the extra weight being put on the pelvic area. The pressure from pregnancy can also cause a woman to have hip pain at night due to her growing belly, which pushes down and squishes all other internal organs around it. Some pregnant women find relief by putting a pillow between their knees.

Physical Injury

Trauma causing fracture or bruising on the outside of your hip is a significant source of pain. Common causes of injury are falls and impact. A fractured bone is a severe injury and will take a long time to recover. A person with a bone bruise may feel pain for months while it heals. These conditions could require adjusting sleep positions to minimize pain.

Why it worsens at night

Hip pain tends to worsen at night because of the added stress to the joints in a position held for many hours.

The position and bed you sleep on can cause tension on the hip joints, worsening a pre-existing condition.

Mattress

A mattress not paired to your body is a big reason hip pain worsens at night. If your bed is too soft or too firm, it will create pressure on the hip joint.

This pressure for multiple hours will create hip pain that can wake you or greet you first thing in the morning.

Sleep Position

The position you sleep in can be causing pain. If you sleep on your side, the side contacting the bed will face additional pressure.

Even sleeping on our back with the wrong mattress can create pressure causing pain.

Inactivity

Being in a position stretching the ligaments for a prolonged time can cause inflammation and tendonitis. This can be compounded by inactivity during the day, causing a lack of flexibility increasing hip pain.

Short Term Relief

There are many ways to quickly reduce the stress on your hip joint while you sleep and relieve the pain causing inflammation.

Sleep Posture

Changing your sleeping position is the fastest way to reduce pressure on the tendons and help reduce your hip pain.

Sleeping on your side or stomach is the most significant position that can cause hip pain. Try sleeping on your back for quick relief.

If sleeping on your side is your only option, try putting a pillow between your knees.

Heat or Ice

Using an ice pack to address inflamed hip joints can help relieve pain and reduce swelling. Make sure the ice pack is in a towel and does not make direct contact with the skin.

Using heat can help by increasing blood flow to the hip area. Make sure you use a heating pad or warm towel and never apply heat directly to your skin as it can burn you.

OTC Pain Meds

Many turn to over-the-counter pain medications like Aleve and Tylenol for pain symptoms treatment. This is a fast way to potentially reduce pain so you can go back to sleep.

Be sure to talk to your doctor before taking any medication treatment.

CBD

A new up and coming way to potentially attack inflammation is CBD. Studies are ongoing, but early indications are it may help with pain and inflamed tissue.

CBD is readily available and reasonably priced. While the word is still out if this is legitimate medicine, it's a low-risk substance to try.

If you are on any medications, make sure to talk to your doctor to verify there will not be any complications.

Long Term Solutions

Short-term solutions are great, but the goal is long-term relief when it comes to pain. There are a few ways that you can try to keep your hip joint pain at bay.

These solutions will take a considerable amount of time or money to relieve symptoms for good.

Mattress

Finding a mattress that does not put pressure points on your hips is the first thing you need to do. This will require trying a large number of beds to see what is the ideal firmness to relieve your hip pain.

You'll want something ideal for your sleeping position. Getting a pillow to match the bed is also needed.

Some side benefits you may experience from a better bed are improved sleep and reducing any back pain.

Stretching and Exercise

A strong core of muscles around your hips will help significantly with the treatment of pain symptoms. Regular exercise and stretching of your hip muscles will help you loosen any tight tendons and be more resistant to pain that develops from inactivity while you sleep.

This can help keep your hips pain free while you slumber.

If a weak piriformis or sciatica is the cause of your pain, you check out our stretches to help with the condition here.

You may feel soreness after exercising but should not feel sharp pain.

Sleep Habits

Improving the way you go to sleep may help reduce the hip pain you are experiencing.

Keyways to improve your sleep hygiene:

Keep a consistent bedtime

Wake up at the same time every day

Avoid caffeine in the afternoon

Limit Blue Light before going to sleep

Use a pillow that keeps the spine in alignment

Sleeping in a low lightroom

Avoiding alcohol

Use your bed exclusively for sleeping

Medical Intervention

Being proactive and changing your habits and exercising may help, but there are conditions where the hips need medical intervention. This requires seeing an orthopedic doctor find the best course of action to relieve symptoms.

Treatments can range from physical therapy, injections, surgery, and more. We always encourage doing everything you can to avoid surgery. In many situations, surgery is the only path to relieve hip pain. It has longer recovery times, is painful, and requires physical therapy.

Discussing what treatments are suitable for your health is beyond our scope, and you'll have to consult with your doctor on the best course of action to move forward.

About CBD LION

If you are interested in trying CBD to lessen your hip pain, we are here to help. Studies on CBD are still ongoing, and while customers are reporting relief, all evidence is still antidotal.

Our CBD products are focused on being of the highest quality at affordable prices. Our ingredients come from high-end hemp that is NON-GMO and organically farmed in the USA. From there, the ingredients are turned into a product in our ISO 7 certified cleanroom, and 3rd party lab tested by the lotto show purity and potency.

We have multiple forms of CBD like CBD oil tinctures, edibles, sports tape, roll-ons, and lotions. Each product is designed for maximum effectiveness.

In conclusion

Hip pain may worsen at night due to existing conditions like osteoarthritis, hip bursitis, weak piriformis muscle, sciatica, tendonitis, and injuries. There are both short term and longer-term ways to help alleviate the pain. The short term consists of changing sleep positions and over-the-counter medications. Longer term solutions are a more considerable investment in time and money to improve your hip health. Some longer term solutions are a new bed and pillow, exercise, sleep habits, and medical treatments by a doctor like injections, physical therapy, and surgery.

No matter what route you take, it's crucial to take action as pain in your hip can ruin your sleep. Poor sleep has a massive amount of adverse health effects and is not something to neglect. We wish you the best of luck in your pain relief journey.

Disclaimer:

This is not intended to be medical advice. If you suffer from pain, talk to your doctor for the best treatments for your body type. Never consume drugs or CBD without discussing the potential risks with a health care professional.