Hip Arthritis

What is it?
Hip arthritis is inflammation of the hip joint. There are two main types of arthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a "wear and tear" disease. This is the most common form.
Inflammatory arthritis is inflammation secondary to diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoarthritis causes the cartilage on the end of your bones to get rougher and thinner. The bone beneath compensates by thickening (sclerosis) and growing outwards, creating outgrowths (osteophytes). The space between the two bones of the hip narrows (as the cartilage thins).

Symptoms
If you have osteoarthritis, your joint will be stiff and painful. The pain may be worse after you have been exercising. You may find you can't move the joint as much or as easily as before. You will probably notice times when your symptoms are worse than at others. There doesn't seem to be any particular cause for this, although you may find you are affected by changes in the weather or the amount of activity you do.
If you have severe or advanced osteoarthritis, it's possible that you will feel pain all the time, even at night and when you are resting.

What can be done?

1. Self-help - You can do this by trying to lose any excess weight, using a walking stick.
   Although you may not feel like it, it's important to keep active and take regular exercise. This will help if you are trying to lose excess weight and will keep your muscles strong so they can support your joints.
2. Medicines - No medicine can cure osteoarthritis but they can help to relieve symptoms. Paracetamol or Non-Steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen are the most common used. Inflammatory arthritis is often treated with drugs as a first-line treatment.
3. Complementary therapies - Although there is little evidence for the effectiveness of complementary therapies in treating osteoarthritis, 60 percent of people with all forms of arthritis have used or are using one type or another. If you have severe side-effects as a result of medication, you may find acupuncture or reflexology helpful in relieving pain.
4. Non-surgical treatments - A steroid injection can be helpful especially in early disease. These are given directly into the hip joint usually under some sedation in theatre.
5. Food supplements - Glucosamine and chondroitin supplements may provide you with some pain relief, although there is only limited evidence that they are effective. These chemicals are found naturally in cartilage and it's thought that taking supplements may improve the condition of damaged cartilage. They may also slow down thinning of the cartilage. Glucosamine comes from shellfish so you shouldn't take it if you have a shellfish allergy.
6. Surgery - Hip replacement is the mainstay of surgical treatment for hip arthritis. Please see chapter on hip replacement for further information.