Pain in hip (or psoas muscle?) - what the heck?

[TuxWink]

So, for the past few years I’ve felt the occasional twinge of pain when stepping into the horse trailer, or up a big step, in my left hip. Nothing major and it didn’t bother me all the time, just once in a while, and never while riding.

Fast forward to this year. I’ve started working on 2nd level movements in my lessons - bigger trot, sitting more, etc., and all of a sudden I’m experiencing bouts of sharp pain in this left hip. Most days I’m fine, and can run, do yoga or ride without pain during the activity, however, the exact moment when I push into my left stirrup and swing my right leg over to mount I am in pretty severe pain. Once I let my leg stretch down for a few minutes and/or my left hip “pops” I am good to go.

I’ve tried resting, but if anything the less activity I do the worse I feel.

I should add that both my hips have always “popped” a couple of times a day when I turn my leg out. Not sure what this is, but it never really bothered me. Also, my horse throws me to the right, and I have to work hard to stay centered in the saddle, especially traveling to the left.

So, does anyone have any idea what is happening or experienced something similar? Do you think I have a tear in my psoas, or am I just weak on my left side and all the extra sitting trot is making me sore? Do you think I should give acupuncture or chiro a try?

[Bristol_Bay]

You should post this in the Equestrians with Disabilities forum. There are some pretty good diagnosticians over there.

My former trainer used to have to go to the chiropractor every so often to get her hip repositioned. But if I were you, I’d go to see an orthopedic doc. It kind of sounds like a labral tear.

[Punkie]

I don’t know what age bracket you’re in, but there are a few very serious things that I can think of that would cause that pain and a whole lot of less serious issues as well. The bottom line is, don’t mess with hip pain. Get an appointment with your PCP, tell them what you’ve been doing with your horse, and get an MRI. That will rule out 99% of the nasty stuff and a good portion of the more mild stuff. It sounds like you’ve a bit of tendonitis in your IT band or you’ve pulled your psoas, but just to be sure, get thee to the doctor!

[dotneko]

I have this exact same issue! When mounting, I have to have someone put a hand on the horse since I have to twist my body until the pain in my right hip releases. My PCP says bursitis. Tells me to mount from the other side. Once I am on for about 20 seconds, the pain goes away. It is the longest 20 seconds of my day. I can ‘reproduce’ this pain if I do a sideways leg lift. I find the pain is reduced on subsequent mountings and if I take the time to gently stretch. It is also less on a narrow horse.

Wanted to add - I seem to remember it getting worse when I came off a pretty violent bucking episode.

[tollertwins]

Where does it hurt?

If it’s the point of the hip (e.g. over the trochanter) it’s likely bursitis…Find IT band stretches and massage type stuff.

If it’s in the groin area it could be a couple of things…some bad, some not so much.

I have chronic psoas tendinitis on one side and a labral tear on the other. On the psoas side it hurts getting the leg down and back. On the labral tear side it’s a sharp pain from too much lateral work, or anything too wide.

I also pop - MOST of those are tendons and no big deal - a couple times the tear on the labrum has gotten ‘stuck’ and popped coming out.

[TuxWink]

Thanks for the replies. I think I agitated this issue when moving hay and feed about a month ago. Before that I would just feel a painful twinge once in a while, but would stretch and feel fine after.

More info - I’m in my 30s, very active, not overweight, don’t remember anything “traumatic” happening that would cause this pain. I do admit that sometimes I don’t take the time to stretch as much as I should after riding or running.

I feel pain both towards the front of my hip near my hip flexor and towards the back in the crease on the side of my glut, but only very specific actions (i.e. mounting or lifting a heavy feed bag) trigger this pain. I can get through an entire yoga class, or run several miles, without feeling any pain.

It is mostly just annoying me that it isn’t going away on its own. I know the best thing to do is to see the doctor, which I will, but I just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this.

[tollertwins]

Not sure…

I have FAI pain there, and had pain there from a deteriorating hip for quite a few years.

Could also be that your SI is out?

[walkers60]

If the pain is in front where your leg attaches to your body than that is your hip joint. If the pain is in side of butt that is most likely bursitis but NOT your hip joint.
If it is your hip joint than there is a problem often referred to as Cowgirl Hip. This is from a labral tear (soft tissue). There is a endoscopic surgery to fix this however recovery is painful and takes 3 months maybe less since you are young. I’m old ,riding all my life and have been nursing this for 2 decades because i hate surgery. I’ve learned never to stretch the joint mounting in fact I’m sure I injured the hip swinging up on my horse when she took off after the idiots I was riding with who decided to race by when I was mounting. Ow and so I always find something to use for mounting now. Standing for a long time on hard surfaces also makes the hip hurt.
My Physician who is a dressage rider had the surgery, took her 3 months and she complained of the pain so hey I’m avoiding it.
That said if you don’t recover make sure you see a surgeon who has done hundreds of these surgeries. There is a surgeon in winston salem NC who does about 200 a yr.