Symptoms

Nearly everybody will experience aches and pains in their joints at some time.  This is not to be confused with more serious joint disorders.  Osteoarthritis is often a slow process and symptoms can vary quite significantly.  Quite often stiffness and slight lack of flexibility is the first noticeable problem.  This can occur over many years and is not often perceived to be disabling by the patient.  Any pain that is experienced is often aching in nature and usually occurs towards the end of the day or after exercise.  It is not uncommon for this early phase to last several years.  The stiffness may slightly increase and this stiffness starts to become noticeable and impact in terms of activities of daily living. 

Common symptoms caused by stiffness of the hip include:

• Difficulty putting shoes and socks on
• Difficulty cutting toe nails
• Difficulty getting in and out of the car
• Difficulty walking at a reasonable pace
• Difficulty coping with stairs
• Difficulty going up or down inclines
• Difficulty getting in and out of the bath

There are many more examples.

Often hip pain starts off as a dull ache and is intermittent or periodical.  Gradually the pain can increase in terms of how long it lasts and its type and severity.  Pain is particularly troublesome if it occurs at night.  This interferes with sleep and when patients cannot get a good night's sleep their whole quality of life starts to become intolerable. The pain can become very severe, particularly pain experienced deep in the groin.  Pain is also often experienced in the buttock and is also quite commonly felt to spread down the thigh towards the knee.  Some patients can present to the doctor convinced the problem is in the knee but in fact the disease is in the hip.  This distribution of pain is known as referred pain in that the pain in the hip is referred to the knee. 

There are some practical limitations that arthritis can impact on.  Here are some examples:

• Difficulty coping with housework
• Difficulty coping with shopping
• Difficulty working
• Difficulty coping with personal hygiene
• Difficulty with physical relations
• Difficulty driving for any length of time