Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Tendonitis?CausesSymptomsDiagnosisTreatmentSurgeryPrognosis
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Tendonitis?
Causes
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment
Surgery
Prognosis
This article describes causes and symptoms of hip tendonitis, plus how it’s diagnosed and treated.
Getty Images / fizkes
Tendonitis is inflammation in a muscle’s tendon, which leads to pain and tenderness that gets worse the more the muscle is used.
Tendonitis is an overuse injury. This means the tendon becomes repeatedly stressed through repetitive muscle contractions, which causes micro-tearing of the muscle and tendon fibers. Without enough rest to allow those micro-tears to heal, a chronic cycle of pain and inflammation develops within the affected tendon.
In addition to the hip flexors, other areas of the body that are prone to developing tendonitis include:
What Is Bursitis?Bursae are small fluid-filled sacs that help cushion and decrease friction around joints. Because your iliopsoas tendon overlays bursae, inflammation to the tendon can also cause bursitis, which is inflammation of the bursae surrounding the tendon. Tendonitis and bursitis often occur together and result in an overlap of symptoms.
What Is Bursitis?
Bursae are small fluid-filled sacs that help cushion and decrease friction around joints. Because your iliopsoas tendon overlays bursae, inflammation to the tendon can also cause bursitis, which is inflammation of the bursae surrounding the tendon. Tendonitis and bursitis often occur together and result in an overlap of symptoms.
What Is Tendonitis and How Long Does It Last?
The hip flexors primarily refer to theiliopsoas muscle, the conjoined unit of theiliacus,psoas major, andpsoas minormuscles of the hip. The iliopsoas originates in the pelvis and vertebrae of the lower spine and attaches to the top of the femur (thigh bone).
Collectively, the iliopsoas functions to bring the hip into flexion—this is the movement of the hip joint that brings your leg closer to the front of your body, such as lifting your leg up to step up or jump. It also helps keep your torso stable when you’re standing with one or both feet on the ground, and it helps you rise from a lying position.
Iliopsoas tendonitis most often results from physical activities that require repeated lifting of the leg when stepping, running, kicking, and jumping. These may include running, dancing, doing gymnastics, performing martial arts, cycling, and playing soccer.
Iliopsoas tendonitis can also occur after hiparthroscopy. This is a minimally invasive surgical procedure to repair structures within the hip joint, due to altered joint movement and muscle activation patterns after surgery.
The primary symptoms of hip tendonitis include a soreness or deep ache in the front of the hip that worsens after physical activity, and limited range of motion due to pain. Other symptoms of hip tendonitis include:
Hip tendonitis is diagnosed through a physical examination and a medical history that reviews your symptoms. You may also have anX-rayof your hip performed to examine your hip joint alignment and determine if a fracture or arthritis is present.
Initial treatment for iliopsoas tendonitis involves rest from aggravating activities, along with ice and gentle stretching. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can be used if needed to ease pain and swelling, decrease inflammation, and reduce muscle spasms.
If chronic pain persists, you may receive acortisone injectioninto your iliopsoas tendon.
A structuredphysical therapyprogram focusing on hip flexor stretching and strengthening of the hip flexors, glutes, and core will help you to recover more fully.
For cases that do not improve after three months of treatment, surgery may be performed to lengthen the iliopsoas tendon. The procedure is called a tenotomy. It involves making a small cut into a portion of the iliopsoas tendon, allowing the tendon to increase in length while decreasing tension as it fully heals back together.
While a tenotomy to the iliopsoas tendon temporarily reduces the strength of the iliopsoas, this weakness typically resolves within three to six months after surgery.
Tendonitis, in general, has an excellent prognosis for full recovery if adequate rest from activities that aggravate the condition is taken to allow your inflamed tendon to heal.
For chronic and severe cases of iliopsoas tendonitis that require surgery, the postsurgical prognosis is usually good.
Summary
Treatment for hip tendonitis involves rest, ice, NSAIDs, stretching, and physical therapy, with an excellent prognosis for full recovery. Chronic cases of hip tendonitis that do not improve with treatment may require a cortisone injection into the iliopsoas tendon to decrease inflammation or a surgical release of the iliopsoas tendon to decrease tightness and pain.
A Word From Verywell
3 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Adib F, Johnson AJ, Hennrikus WL, Nasreddine A, Kocher M, Yen Y.Iliopsoas tendonitis after hip arthroscopy: prevalence, risk factors and treatment algorithm.J Hip Preserv Surg. 2018. 24;5(4):362-369. doi:10.1093/jhps/hny049.
Anderson CN.Iliopsoas: pathology, diagnosis, and treatment.Clinics in sports medicine2016;35(3):419-33.
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