Hip pain is more than just an inconvenience; it can be a constant, grinding frustration that steals your mobility and dictates your daily life.
If you’ve tried resting, stretching, and generic painkillers without lasting success, you’re not alone. The reason many self-treatments fail is simple: hip pain is rarely just about the hip. It’s a mechanical puzzle involving your posture, lower back, pelvis, and movement patterns.
At Don Kelly Physiotherapy and Acupuncture, we don’t just treat the pain—we solve the puzzle using a comprehensive, two-pronged strategy that addresses both the immediate symptom and the underlying cause.
The Three Pillars of Long-Term Hip Relief
Solving complex hip pain requires more than one tool. Our comprehensive strategy is built on three distinct, integrated pillars designed to diagnose the issue, correct the underlying mechanics, and eliminate the pain simultaneously.
Pillar 1: Restoring Movement & Function (Physiotherapy & Gait Analysis)
The first, and most critical, step is identifying why your hip is protesting. This often means looking outside the joint itself.
The Role of Gait Analysis
One of the biggest contributors to chronic hip stress is faulty gait (the way you walk or run). Small, unconscious compensations—perhaps from an old ankle injury or weak core muscles—can overload your hip joint with every step.
Our physiotherapists use detailed Gait Analysis to:
Pinpoint Imbalances: We analyze your movement patterns to identify subtle twists, rotations, or muscle weaknesses that are placing undue strain on your hip.
Restore Alignment: We use hands-on manual therapy and targeted exercises to correct these mechanical flaws.
Build Stability: Your treatment focuses heavily on strengthening the crucial stabilizing muscles in your glutes and core, which act as the shock absorbers for your entire lower body
Pillar 2: Foundational Correction with Custom Orthotics
The body is a kinetic chain, and stability often starts at the ground level. Issues in your feet—such as flat arches, overpronation, or leg length discrepancies—can create a rotational chain reaction that travels up your ankle, knee, and into your hip socket.
For patients with mechanical hip pain stemming from foot or ankle instability, custom orthotics are essential. They provide:
Optimal Foot Alignment: Orthotics are molded precisely to your foot to support your natural arch and correct improper biomechanics.
Reduced Rotational Stress: By ensuring proper foot placement during walking, orthotics help reduce the inward or outward rotation that can torque your hip and pelvis.
Even Weight Distribution: This restores symmetry during gait, decreasing the asymmetrical load that contributes to long-term chronic hip pain.
By correcting the mechanics, we don’t just reduce your pain now; we protect your hip joint from future injury.
Pillar 3: Rapid Pain Relief (Acupuncture and Dry Needling)
While physiotherapy rebuilds function, we use advanced techniques to break the cycle of pain and tension.
Targeting Deep Tension with Dry Needling
Hip pain is frequently accompanied by deep, hard-to-reach muscle knots, particularly in the glutes (like the piriformis) or the hip flexors.
Dry Needling is a highly effective technique where fine needles are inserted into muscular trigger points. This process rapidly:
Releases Muscle Knots: It prompts the tight muscle fiber to twitch and release, providing immediate relief from deep aches and referred pain.
Improves Circulation: It brings fresh blood flow to the area, flushing out inflammation and metabolic waste.
Combined with traditional Acupuncture, which stimulates the body’s natural pain-relieving hormones (endorphins), we can dramatically reduce inflammation and calm the nervous system, making it easier for you to perform the therapeutic exercises needed for long-term recovery.
Take Control Today: Download Your Free Hip Health Guide
Knowledge is power, especially when dealing with pain. To help you manage your symptoms from home and gather the vital information your therapist needs, we’ve created a FREE downloadable resource:
The Hip Pain First Aid Guide & Tracker
This 2-part guide includes:
Immediate First Aid: Essential steps to take (and three crucial things to avoid) during an acute flare-up.
The Daily Pain Tracker: A printable logbook to record pain severity, triggers, and helpful remedies. Bring this completed tracker to your first appointment for a faster, more effective diagnosis!
Don’t wait for your hip to feel better—take action!
Ready to Move Confidently Again?
If you are tired of limiting your activities because of hip pain, the solution is a precise diagnosis and a comprehensive treatment plan. The combination of physiotherapy, gait analysis, custom orthotics, acupuncture, and dry needling at Don Kelly Physiotherapy is designed to get you back to enjoying life—pain-free.
