{"id":24581,"date":"2025-07-09T16:12:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/?page_id=24581"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:51:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:51:41","slug":"lateral-hip-pain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/orthopaedics\/adult-non-arthritic-hip-service\/lateral-hip-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Lateral Hip Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Common causes for Lateral Hip Pain:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>GTPS (Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome) <em>(pain in region of greater trochanter)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gluteus medius tendinopathy <em>(inflammation and weakness of the gluteus medius muscles which may contribute to GTPS)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>External snapping hip \u2013 <em>(a visible \u2018flicking\u2019 of the iliotibial band over the greater trochanter)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table aligncenter\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>GTPS and Gluteus medius tendinopathy<\/th><th>External Snapping Hip<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>HISTORY<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>HISTORY<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>-Most common in middle age women<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>-Worsened by obesity<\/td><td>&#8211; Most common in young females<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>-Poor underlying conditioning<\/td><td>&#8211; Likely to be associated with weakness of hip musculature<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>-Excessive &amp; frequent loads to outside of hip joint eg sitting cross legged<\/td><td>&#8211; May be associated with hypermobility<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>-Possible history of trauma to lateral aspect of hip<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>SIGNS<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>SIGNS<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>-Specific lateral hip pain \u2013 see photos*<\/td><td>-Visible\/reported flicking or clicking located in region of Greater trochanter<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&#8211; Sore to lie on affected side<\/td><td>-Pain located to lateral hip<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>-Worse with legs crossed&nbsp;<\/td><td>-Patients may report hip \u2018clicking out\u2019<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&#8211; Pain going up and down the stairs<\/td><td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>* Lateral hip pain , one of the signs of GTPS and Gluteus medius tendinopathy<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"589\" height=\"391\" data-id=\"24561\" src=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/ANAH-Services-2.png\" alt=\"ANAH Services 2\" class=\"wp-image-24561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/ANAH-Services-2.png 589w, https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/ANAH-Services-2-300x199.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px\" \/><figcaption><span class=\"media-credit\">NHS Lothian<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"633\" height=\"422\" data-id=\"24588\" src=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/Lateral-Hip-pain-2.png\" alt=\"Lateral Hip pain 2\" class=\"wp-image-24588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/Lateral-Hip-pain-2.png 633w, https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/Lateral-Hip-pain-2-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs\" data-active-tab=\"0\"><ul class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-links\"><\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Referral Guidelines<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who can refer:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>GPs, GPAPPs, other Consultants<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who to refer:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Patients with history and signs as above who have not responded to or exhausted all conservative treatments including 4-6 months of specific strengthening exercises. Local corticosteroid injection could possibly be considered but is not the first line of treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who not to refer:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Referred pain from lumbar spine \u2013 <em>consider referral to NHS Lothian Integrated Back Pain Service<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hip OA seen on XR<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Red flags \u2013 <em>see <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/orthopaedics\/adult-non-arthritic-hip-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Adult Non Arthritic Hip Service \u2013 RefHelp<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to refer:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SCI gateway &gt; Lauriston Buildings &gt; Orthopaedics \u2013 Hip &gt; LI Adult Non Arthritic Hips\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please request an AP pelvis XR before referral<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Primary Care Management<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p><strong>Primary care investigations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>XR AP pelvis to rule out OA hip and look for calcification around greater trochanter<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Primary care treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Physiotherapy referral<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Information sheet on postures &amp; positions to avoid<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weight loss advice\/management<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider corticosteroid injection locally to greater trochanter bearing in mind inflammation is not likely to be the main source of pain<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Patient information<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edinburghorthopaedics.org\/patient-information-pages\/hip\/\">Edinburgh Orthopaedics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Resources and Links<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edinburghorthopaedics.org\/patient-information-pages\/hip\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Edinburgh Orthopaedics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Common causes for Lateral Hip Pain: GTPS and Gluteus medius tendinopathy External Snapping Hip HISTORY HISTORY -Most common in middle age women -Worsened by obesity &ndash; Most common in young females -Poor underlying conditioning &ndash; Likely to be associated with weakness of hip musculature -Excessive &amp; frequent loads to outside of hip joint eg sitting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":24555,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1269],"class_list":["post-24581","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-https-apps-nhslothian-scot-refhelp-lateral-hip-pain"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"heatherlevy","author_link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/author\/heatherlevy\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/category\/orthopaedics\/https-apps-nhslothian-scot-refhelp-adult-non-arthritic-hip-service\/https-apps-nhslothian-scot-refhelp-lateral-hip-pain\/\" rel=\"tag\">Lateral Hip pain<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Common causes for Lateral Hip Pain: GTPS and Gluteus medius tendinopathy External Snapping Hip HISTORY HISTORY -Most common in middle age women -Worsened by obesity &ndash; Most common in young females -Poor underlying conditioning &ndash; Likely to be associated with weakness of hip musculature -Excessive &amp; frequent loads to outside of hip joint eg sitting","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24581"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27724,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24581\/revisions\/27724"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}