Hip pain: your treatment options

What helps hip osteoarthritis and outer hip pain: exercise and education first, weight support, walking aids, medicines, injections, and hip replacement when it's needed.

7 min read · last reviewed October 1, 2026

Hip pain can make you feel older than you are. The good news is that there are proven ways to ease it, and most of them start with things you can do yourself. This guide walks through the options for hip osteoarthritis and for pain on the outside of the hip, starting with the ones that help most people.

Hip osteoarthritis

Think of treatment as a staircase. Everyone starts on the first step, and many people never need to go all the way up.

Step 1: Exercise, learning and weight support

Exercise. Every major guideline recommends exercise as a core treatment for hip osteoarthritis. A Cochrane review found that exercise eases pain and improves function in people with hip osteoarthritis. Helpful types include:

• Strengthening your buttock, hip and thigh muscles, 2 to 3 times a week
• Aerobic activity, such as walking, cycling (a stationary bike is great for hips) or swimming
• Water exercise, which supports your weight and can feel easier on sore joints
• Tai chi, which builds strength and balance
• Gentle stretching to keep the hip moving

Your hip may ache a little more at first. That is normal and not a sign of harm. See our guide Pain during exercise.

Supervised programmes, such as GLA:D, offered by trained physiotherapists in Canada and other countries, combine education with exercise and help many people feel more confident.

Learning about your condition. Understanding what is happening, and what helps, is part of good care.

Weight support, if needed. If you are living with overweight, losing some weight can ease pain and improve function. Any amount helps, and your care team can help you set a goal. There is no blame. Many things affect weight, and support is available.

Something you can do today: Try 5 sit-to-stands from a sturdy chair. It's one of the best everyday hip exercises.

Step 2: Physiotherapy and walking aids

• Physiotherapy. A physiotherapist can tailor your exercise plan, help you progress, and suggest ways to make daily tasks easier. Hands-on treatment can be added, but works best alongside exercise.
• A cane or walking stick. Held in the hand opposite your sore hip, a cane can take a good share of load off the joint. Guidelines strongly support it. A physiotherapist can set the right height.
• Aids for daily living. A sock aid, long-handled shoe horn, raised toilet seat or grab rails can make life easier. An occupational therapist can help.

Step 3: Medicines

Medicines work best alongside exercise, at the lowest helpful dose, for the shortest time.

• Anti-inflammatory medicines (NSAIDs). Pills may help hip osteoarthritis if they are safe for you. They aren't safe for everyone, especially people with stomach, kidney or heart problems, or who take blood thinners. Gels may help less for the hip than the knee because the joint is deep.
• Acetaminophen (paracetamol). Recent guidelines say it gives little benefit for osteoarthritis.
• Opioids aren't recommended for osteoarthritis. The risks outweigh the benefits.
• Glucosamine and chondroitin aren't recommended, as there is no strong evidence they help.

Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting a new medicine.

Step 4: Injections

• Steroid injections into the hip, usually guided by ultrasound or X-ray, can ease pain for a few weeks. They can help you through a flare or get going with exercise.
• Hyaluronic acid, PRP and stem cell injections aren't recommended by major guidelines for hip osteoarthritis.

Step 5: Hip replacement

Total hip replacement is one of the most successful operations in medicine. The worn ball and socket are replaced with smooth artificial parts. Most people have much less pain and can walk more easily afterwards. A large study of joint registries found that more than half of hip replacements were still working 25 years later.

Guidelines suggest considering a referral to a surgeon when:

• Hip pain, stiffness or loss of function is badly affecting your quality of life, and
• Exercise, weight support and pain relief haven't helped enough.

There is no "right" age, and you shouldn't be turned away just because of your age, weight or other health conditions, though these can affect your risks. Getting stronger before surgery ("prehab") and doing your exercises afterwards helps recovery. Most people walk with help the day of or after surgery, and keep improving for months.

Pain on the outside of the hip (greater trochanteric pain syndrome)

• Education and exercise first. In the LEAP trial, people who had education plus a progressive exercise programme for the buttock muscles did better than those who had a single steroid injection or who waited and watched.
• Avoid squeezing the tendons. Don't cross your legs, don't stand with your hip pushed out to one side, and put a pillow between your knees when you lie on your side.
• Steroid injection. Can ease pain for a short time, but the benefit tends to fade, and it works best alongside exercise.
• Shockwave therapy may help some people whose pain lasts. Ask a specialist.
• Surgery is rarely needed.

Something you can do this week: Ask your doctor or physiotherapist about an exercise programme for your hip, or start our Hip Conditioning Program video.

Questions to ask your care team

• What is causing my hip pain, and what should I do first?
• Which exercises are right for me, and how do I progress them?
• Would a cane or other aid help me? What height should it be?
• Which pain medicine is safe for me?
• Would a steroid injection help me now?
• When should we talk about hip replacement, and what does recovery look like?

This article is general information, not medical advice. Talk with your health care team about your own situation. In an emergency, call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number.

In an emergency, call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number.

General information, not medical advice. It does not replace your own care team. If you think you or someone else is having a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number. If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 9-8-8 (Canada and the US).

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