What We Treat

Hip pain treatment in University Heights.

The pinch in the crease when you get out of the car. The side you stopped sleeping on. Hips get blamed for back trouble and backs get blamed for hips, so we start by finding out which one you actually have.

Hip impingement Outside hip pain Groin and glute pain Schedule Appointment

Sound Familiar?

How much has your hip already taken?

  • A deep pinch in the crease of your hip every time you swing out of the car
  • Socks go on sitting down, one leg at a time, in a particular order
  • An ache on the outside of the hip that flares the second you lie on that side
  • The first ten steps after sitting are taken very carefully
  • You lead with the good leg on stairs, and take them one at a time
  • You have started picking the shorter walk without really deciding to

Two or more? Your world has been quietly shrinking. Keep reading.

Why It Happens

A sore hip is usually a hip that stopped sharing.

Walking is really just standing on one leg, over and over. Every one of those steps asks your glutes to hold the pelvis level. When they go quiet, the joint starts jamming at the front of the crease, the tendon on the outside gets pressed against the bone every time you take weight, and your low back and knee absorb whatever the hip declined to carry.

There is one more twist. Plenty of hip pain is a back referring down, and plenty of back pain is a stiff hip pushing work upstairs. Guessing between those two costs people months. A cause-first evaluation checks the joint, the tendon and the spine in the same visit, so the plan targets the one that is actually driving it.

Physical therapist checking hip range of motion by moving a seated patient's knee toward the chest

The Honest Truth

Another six months, and the walk gets shorter again.

If you keep waiting

  • Your knee and low back take over the load, and start complaints of their own
  • Balance slips quietly, because a strong hip is what catches a stumble
  • You walk less to protect it, and walking is the one thing a hip most needs

If you start this week

  • You find out whether it is the joint, the tendon or your back, at visit one
  • Hands-on work and the right loading start easing the pinch and the outside ache
  • You leave with a plan that has an endpoint, and stairs you stop planning around

You have spent decades being the one who shows up for everybody. Shrinking your world one staircase at a time is not how that story is supposed to end.

How We Fix It

Four phases. Built to get the walk back.

Every plan has an endpoint. Here is what the four phases look like for a hip.

Weeks 1–2

Pain

Calm it down.

We settle the joint at the front or the tendon on the outside, and take the daily compression off it so you can sleep on that side again.

Weeks 2–6

Prime

Get the motion back.

Hip rotation comes back first, which is the motion you lose earliest and notice last. Getting in and out of the car stops being an event.

Weeks 6–10

Perform

Make it strong enough to trust.

Glute and deep hip strength gets built step by step, until standing on one leg is boring again and stairs stop asking permission.

Weeks 10+

Prevent

Make sure it does not come back.

Walking, stairs and rising out of a low chair get retrained under real load, so the hip keeps taking its share long after you leave.

Dr. Moskowitz helped me with several problems -Balance, heel pain and strengthening muscles. He is knowledgeable and caring.

Shared by Rose K. · Balance and strength

Several problems at once: balance, heel pain, and muscles that needed strengthening

All of it worked on, by someone she calls knowledgeable and caring

Balance and strength Rose K.

Questions, Answered

What people ask us about hips.

Neither one is the fastest path. An X-ray shows the joint surface and says nothing about the tendon, the muscle or the back, which is where a lot of hip pain actually comes from. Waiting it out costs you strength and balance you then have to rebuild. We evaluate the hip and the spine together, tell you what is driving it, and if imaging changes anything we will help you get it.

No. Hips are not tires, and they do not have a fixed number of miles in them. Joints are fed by movement, and the muscles that protect them only get stronger by being asked to work. What hurts a hip is the wrong load, not load itself. Getting that dose right is the job, and it is why you are one-on-one with a licensed physical therapist every visit.

We will give you a straight answer after the evaluation, once we know how much strength the hip has lost. Your plan runs through four phases: Pain, Prime, Perform, Prevent. Every visit you know which phase you are in and what is left to clear. That is a plan with an endpoint, not an appointment you keep indefinitely.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person calls you back during clinic hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.

  • Hours Mon & Wed 8:15am–7:00pm · Tue & Thu 8:15am–5:30pm · Fri 8:15am–3:30pm · Sat & Sun closed
  • (216) 577-1933 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • No referral needed, Ohio direct access

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A real person calls, never an autoresponder

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So we know who to look for when you walk in.

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Care this good, this close.

In Motion Physical Therapy