You’ve been waking up at 2am, unable to lie on your side. Getting out of a chair after some rest feels like mission impossible. Walking up stairs makes you wince.
And when you ask Dr. Google, you get a list of scary possibilities that sends you down a rabbit hole at midnight.
Sound familiar? You’re not imagining it — and you’re not alone.
One of the most common causes of this exact type of pain, especially in women over 50, is a condition called trochanteric bursitis (inflammation of a small fluid-filled sac on the outside of your hip). It’s frustrating, it’s painful, and it’s often misdiagnosed. But here’s the good news: it responds well to the right treatment.
What Is Trochanteric Bursitis?
Your hip has small cushioning sacs called bursae (think of them like tiny water balloons) that reduce friction between bones and soft tissue (mostly tendons). The one on the bony point on the side of your hip bone — called the greater trochanter — can become inflamed and irritated.
When that happens, you get pain on the outer side of your hip. Sometimes it travels down the side of your thigh.
The pain is usually worse when:
- Lying on the affected side at night
- Getting up from a chair or car seat
- Climbing stairs or walking for longer periods… especially uphill
- Crossing your legs
Women over 50 are particularly prone to this condition, though it sometimes affects men too.
What Causes It?
Trochanteric bursitis is rarely caused by one single thing. Usually, it’s a combination of factors:
- Tight hip muscles or IT band (the thick band of tissue running down the outside of your thigh)
- Weakness in the gluteal muscles (your buttock muscles)
- A change in activity — suddenly doing more walking, a new exercise routine, or even a long flight
- Poor hip alignment or an old injury that changed the way you walk
- Sometimes, just the natural changes that come with an aging body
What Should You Do About It?
The worst thing you can do is just push through it and hope it goes away. In our experience, that rarely works and the pain often gets worse.
The best approach combines a few things:
1. Reduce the irritation first. Avoid lying directly on the painful side at night — a pillow between your knees can help. Avoid crossing your legs or sitting in low, soft chairs that force your hip into an awkward position.
2. Address the muscle weakness. Research consistently shows that strengthening the gluteal muscles is one of the most effective treatments for this condition. A physiotherapist can prescribe the right exercises, because doing the wrong ones can actually make things worse.
3. Don’t just reach for cortisone. Steroid injections can provide short-term relief, but if the underlying cause — usually muscle imbalance and hip mechanics — isn’t addressed, the pain often comes back.
Practical tip for tonight: Sleep with a pillow between your knees and avoid lying on the sore side. It’s a small change which can make a big difference in how you feel tomorrow morning.
When Should You See a Physiotherapist?
If the pain has been going on for more than two weeks, it’s not settling on its own, or it’s affecting your sleep — please don’t wait. Trochanteric bursitis is very treatable, especially when you catch it early.
At Growing Younger Physiotherapy in Howick and Highland Park, we see patients with this condition regularly. We’ll assess exactly what’s driving the problem and put together a plan that gets you sleeping through the night and moving freely again.
To book an appointment or have a chat about your hip pain, click here to get in touch with us.