By Amanda Cocozzo, PT
History
A 56 year old female was seen in the office of Capital Area Physical Therapy and Wellness with complaints of a 3 month history of right hip pain. Patient stated
that her pain began without a known injury and is impacting her ability to sleep, change positions in bed and stand from a chair. She also reports that she has pain when laying on her side in bed. The patient informs the therapist that she works at a desk and sits most of her day.
Evaluation
Upon examination the patient’s lumbar spine, hip, knees and ankles were assessed for joint and soft tissue mobility as well as a thorough gait assessment was performed. Her posture was examined and ergonomics at her place of work were discussed. Findings indicated tissue shortening throughout the lumbar and pelvic muscles which were impacting her gait and her ability to functionally move effectively.
Treatment
Visit 1: Soft tissue mobilizations were performed to the lateral and posterior hip muscles utilizing the edge tool. Hip joint mobilizations were performed using the Mulligan technique and lower extremity stretching was done as well. The patient was prescribed a home stretching program of a couple exercises and was instructed in some changes to her desk at work since that is where she spent most of her time.
Visit 2: Patient reported some decrease in her pain level with the stretching program. The addition of self tissue mobilizations were added to her program as well as some manual lumbar spine mobilizations.
Visits 3-8 The patient reported less and less pain and by visit 6 was sleeping through the night undisturbed by pain. Throughout this time core and gluteal strengthening exercises were added to her program and the patient was discharged to an appropriate home program.
In this physical therapy case study, hip pain in a patient is evaluated and treated. For more information on this case study, or to make an appointment for an evaluation or treatment, contact us at one of our two physical therapy clinics at 518-289-5242 (Malta) or 518-289-5242 (Queensbury).
Read More Physical Therapy Case Studies from Capital Area Physical Therapy.
