Which hip treatment choices may help me?

What can I try before a shot or operation?

Begin with movements that don't cause a sharp flare. Shorten your walk, avoid a low chair and rise slowly from a firm seat for strength.

A cane may make walking easier when your doctor agrees. Hold it in the hand opposite the sore hip.

Keep the routine when walking and sleep improve without worse pain the next day. That means your hip is tolerating the activity better.

Can medicine make daily tasks easier?

Medicine may calm soreness enough for sleep, walking and exercise. It doesn't repair the joint, and some choices can harm your stomach, heart or kidneys.

Ask your doctor what is safe with your health and other medicines. If you need more medicine while walking less, arrange another exam.

How are QC Kinetix options different?

In Chandler, QC Kinetix offers PRP, a regenerative shot using a concentrated part of your blood. Staff draw and spin the blood, then return the prepared part in that shot.

Some human studies found relief after PRP, while broader reviews found no clear advantage over other shots. The clinic can't predict your result from those studies.

Before offering care, staff examine your hip, watch you walk, review your health, medicines, scan and past care, then explain why this shot may or may not suit you. They may advise another option if the source of soreness is unclear or your health raises concern.

When does surgery become a reasonable choice?

Surgery can make sense when severe joint wear keeps taking away daily tasks. Trouble sleeping, walking, using stairs and putting on shoes all matter.

Hip replacement can help many people, yet every operation carries risk. A surgeon will weigh your scan, exam, health, soreness and goals with you.

Sources

1. The 2019 ACR/Arthritis Foundation guideline makes STRONG recommendations for exercise, weight loss in people with overweight or obesity, self-efficacy and self-management programmes, tai chi, cane use and oral NSAIDs across hand, hip and knee OA - but its strong recommendations for topical NSAIDs and for intra-articular glucocorticoid injection are specific to the KNEE, not the hip.

   Kolasinski SL, et al. — 2019 American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation Guideline for the Management of Osteoarthritis of the Hand, Hip, and Knee.. Arthritis & Rheumatology, 2020. DOI: 10.1002/art.41142.

2. The 2026 Cochrane update of exercise for hip osteoarthritis (18 trials, 1368 participants) found that against attention control or placebo, exercise may have little to no effect on pain (MD -6.31 points on 0-100, 95% CI -12.98 to 0.35, low certainty) and may improve physical function only slightly; against no treatment or usual care it probably reduces pain slightly (MD -7.19, 95% CI -10.70 to -3.68, moderate certainty) but the review states these improvements are unlikely to be clinically meaningful. This is a weaker result than the equivalent knee evidence and it must not be overstated.

   Hall M, et al. — Exercise for osteoarthritis of the hip.. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2026. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007912.pub3.

3. A meta-analysis of 14 epidemiological studies found a 5-unit increase in body mass index was associated with an 11% higher risk of hip osteoarthritis (RR 1.11, 95% CI 1.07-1.16), with no significant difference by sex or study design. The association is real but considerably weaker than the corresponding association at the knee.

   Jiang L, et al. — The relationship between body mass index and hip osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.. Joint Bone Spine, 2011. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbspin.2010.04.011.

4. A Bayesian network meta-analysis of 11 randomized trials (1353 patients) in hip osteoarthritis found that at 2-4 months and 6 months NO injectable - corticosteroid, hyaluronic acid or platelet-rich plasma - significantly outperformed a saline placebo injection for pain or function. Pooled change from baseline exceeded the minimal clinically important difference in every arm including placebo.

   Gazendam A, et al. — Intra-articular saline injection is as effective as corticosteroids, platelet-rich plasma and hyaluronic acid for hip osteoarthritis pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2021. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102179.

5. A systematic review and meta-analysis of six Level I/II randomized trials (211 PRP and 197 hyaluronic acid patients, mean follow-up ~12 months) found NO significant difference between PRP and hyaluronic acid in WOMAC, VAS or Harris Hip Score improvement for hip osteoarthritis, including in the leukocyte-poor PRP subanalysis.

   Belk JW, et al. — Platelet-Rich Plasma Versus Hyaluronic Acid for Hip Osteoarthritis Yields Similarly Beneficial Short-Term Clinical Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Level I and II Randomized Controlled Trials.. Arthroscopy, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.arthro.2021.11.005.

6. FDA states verbatim that regenerative medicine products including stem cells, stromal vascular fraction, umbilical cord blood, Wharton's jelly, amniotic fluid and exosomes have NOT been approved 'for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain.' The only FDA-approved stem cell products in the United States are blood-forming (hematopoietic progenitor) cells derived from umbilical cord blood, approved only for disorders affecting blood production.

   U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Consumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes.. FDA, 2026.

7. In a double-blind RCT of 80 patients with chronic gluteal tendinopathy, a single ultrasound-guided intratendinous PRP injection produced a significantly better modified Harris Hip Score at 12 weeks than a single corticosteroid injection (74.05 vs 67.13, P=.048), with 82% versus 56.7% reaching the minimal clinically important difference.

   Fitzpatrick J, et al. — The Effectiveness of Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections in Gluteal Tendinopathy: A Randomized, Double-Blind Controlled Trial Comparing a Single Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection With a Single Corticosteroid Injection.. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018. DOI: 10.1177/0363546517745525.

8. In a three-arm randomized trial of 204 people with MRI-confirmed gluteal tendinopathy, an eight-week physiotherapist-led education and exercise programme produced success on global rating of change in 51/66 participants at 8 weeks versus 38/65 for a single corticosteroid injection and 20/68 for wait-and-see. Education plus exercise beat the injection at 8 weeks (risk difference 19.9%) and still beat it at 52 weeks (20.4%).

   Mellor R, et al. — Education plus exercise versus corticosteroid injection use versus a wait and see approach on global outcome and pain from gluteal tendinopathy: prospective, single blinded, randomised clinical trial.. BMJ, 2018. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.k1662.

9. A meta-analysis of 28 studies covering 480,532 patients found a significant association between pre-operative intra-articular corticosteroid injection and periprosthetic joint infection after TOTAL HIP arthroplasty (OR 1.55, P=.001), with higher risk when the injection was given within 3 months of surgery (OR 1.20, P=.045). No such association was found for knee arthroplasty. Timing of a hip injection matters if replacement may follow.

   Albanese J, et al. — Infection Risk Increases After Total Hip Arthroplasty Within 3 Months Following Intra-Articular Corticosteroid Injection. A Meta-Analysis on Knee and Hip Arthroplasty.. Journal of Arthroplasty, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2022.12.038.

10. In a single-surgeon RCT of 90 patients OVER 40 with MRI-confirmed symptomatic labral tears and limited radiographic OA (Tonnis 0-2), arthroscopic labral repair plus physical therapy beat physical therapy alone at 12 months (iHOT-33 +12.11, P=.007; mHHS +6.99, P=.04). 63.6% of the physical-therapy-alone group crossed over to surgery, which both supports the result and limits it.

    Martin SD, et al. — Hip Arthroscopy Versus Physical Therapy for the Treatment of Symptomatic Acetabular Labral Tears in Patients Older Than 40 Years: A Randomized Controlled Trial.. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2021. DOI: 10.1177/0363546521990789.

11. Hip dysplasia is a leading precursor of hip osteoarthritis and is present in 20% to 40% of patients with hip OA; associated femoral deformities occur in more than 50%, so the structural anatomy of a dysplastic hip must be assessed in multiple planes. Acetabular osteotomy is the usual treatment in the pre-arthritic dysplastic hip.

    Gala L, Clohisy JC, Beaule PE — Hip Dysplasia in the Young Adult.. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (Am), 2016. DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.O.00109.

12. Pooled analysis of national joint registries (Australia and Finland, 215,676 hip replacements) put 25-year all-cause construct survival at 57.9% (95% CI 57.1-58.7); pooled case series gave 77.6% (95% CI 76.0-79.2). The authors conclude patients and surgeons can expect a hip replacement to last 25 years in around 58% of patients.

    Evans JT, et al. — How long does a hip replacement last? A systematic review and meta-analysis of case series and national registry reports with more than 15 years of follow-up.. The Lancet, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31665-9.

13. A population-based analysis of 63,158 total hip replacements found 10-year implant survival of 95.6% and 20-year survival of 85.0%, but the LIFETIME risk of revision rose sharply with younger age at surgery - about 5% for those operated after 70, up to 35% (95% CI 30.9-39.1) for men in their early 50s, with a median time to revision of 4.4 years in those operated before 60.

    Bayliss LE, et al. — The effect of patient age at intervention on risk of implant revision after total replacement of the hip or knee: a population-based cohort study.. The Lancet, 2017. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30059-4.