17 Ways To Relieve Your Hip Pain At Night

Up to 90% of people with chronic joint pain don’t sleep well. And that could be influencing your pain and mobility the next day. If you suffer from hip pain at night, it could be affecting your chances of recovering completely from the injury or condition that caused your pain. In this post we’ll talk about 17 tried-and-true methods for relieving your pain. After, we’ll discuss some of the more common causes of hip pain in more detail.

What causes hip pain at night? 

Causes of hip pain at night include:

• Sleeping on a bad mattress
• Soreness or overuse from exercise
• Tight muscles
• Injuries
• Hip bursitis
• Hip osteoarthritis
• Tendinitis
• Sciatica
• Pelvic or gynecological issues
• Pain after hip replacement surgery

The most common night hip pain causes, like soreness or sleeping on a bad mattress, can be easily resolved. We’ll discuss some of the at-home remedies you can use to relieve this type of pain later in this post. Severe pain, however, may be caused by:

• Tendinitis
• Sports injuries
• Hip bursitis

These conditions may require more advanced pain management. The following video gives a brief overview of hip pain. We’ll discuss each of these in more detail following treatments.

17 ways to relieve hip pain that is worse at night 

Pain isn’t normal. And, pain that interferes substantially with your sleep isn’t sustainable. We rank the 17 best treatments you can try below. From at-home remedies to surgery, these methods have helped patients get the sleep they need.

However, as the Mayo Clinic post on hip pain warns, always talk to your doctor immediately if your pain is accompanied by:

• Any signs of infection, such as chills, fever, redness, or a sudden swelling
• An inability to move or bear weight on the affected leg
• Intense or severe pain
• A joint that appears deformed

These symptoms could indicate a more serious condition that requires immediate medical attention.

1. Change your sleeping position

WikiHow gives a great overview of how to find the right sleeping position to relieve hip pain at night. They also suggest ways you can use pillows as bolsters to reduce stress in your hips or back.

2. Check your mattress

If you’re suffering from hip pain that is worse at night, first check your mattress. As we talked about in our post on mattresses for back pain, the mattress you choose can help to drastically reduce pain.

First, try out another bed to see if that relieves your pain. Next, SleepJunkie.org gives a great overview of how to find the best mattress for hip pain. They also discuss some alternatives to the pain-causing inner springs in most mattresses. They suggest instead memory foam or latex mattresses.

3. Practice good sleep hygiene

Good sleep hygiene means getting into a routine that encourages restful and deep sleep. Hip pain at night can certainly affect your ability to sleep. However, it will be harder for it to do so if you’re already practicing good sleeping habits. These include:

• Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day
• Reducing alcohol use before bed
• Avoiding prolonged use of sleeping pills
• Avoiding computer or television screens for at least two hours before going to sleep
• Keeping your bedroom cool
• Minimizing the clutter and distraction in your bedroom, by making it for sleep only

4. Perform hip stretches before going to bed

Hip stretches are especially important if you’re suffering from hip and lower back pain at night. These could point to tight muscles being the culprit of your pain.

As ManageBackPain.com explains, talk to your doctor about stretches you can try. Or, for more mild cases of hip pain, try the following stretches from Exercise For Injuries. These will work out the tension you’re holding in your hips and can relieve pain before bed.

5. Try icing the area

WatchFit.com explains:

“Decrease the pain and inflammation by icing the sore or painful area for 15- 20 minutes waiting minimum 30 minutes before reapplying ice. Repeat 2-3 times per day.  Icing will decrease the inflammation and will help break the pain cycle that can also contributes self-limiting or guarding of hip movement.”

6. Rest

If your hip pain is caused by overuse injuries during the day, take a few days off to rest the area. If you’re still experiencing pain, particularly sharp or severe pain, talk to a doctor before resuming activity.

7. Change your activities

Night hip pain is often caused by the activities we do during the day. You can help reduce your pain by varying or changing up your activities. This could be enough to relieve your pain completely. Or it could give you the time to work in some hip strengthening exercises to prevent pain later on.

You can modify your activities by:

• Trying out cross-training, like swimming or biking
• Focusing on low-impact activities, especially if you suffer from hip osteoarthritis
• Working on your core with Pilates, specific core strengthening routines, or yoga

8. Perform hip pain stretches before every workout

Our post 10 Common Causes Of Hip Pain From Running shows six hip stretching routines you can try before each workout. It also gives advice on:

• Foam rolling
• Cross-training
• Self-massage

Other options for more structured hip stretches include yoga and Pilates. These workouts have the double benefit of strengthening your core, too.

If these at-home remedies for your hip pain haven’t helped, talk to your doctor about the following suggestions. Treating your hip pain with non-invasive, small lifestyle changes is always preferred. But if those don’t work, there are treatments that can relieve your pain. Pain isn’t normal and it’s not sustainable if it’s severely affecting the rest your body needs.

9. Take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications

For acute cases of pain, you could try medications. Medications should only be used on a short-term basis, until a longer-term preventative solution or exercise routine can be done to correct the initial cause of your pain. HealthCentral explains:

“Taking a painkiller or perhaps a muscle relaxants just before you go to sleep may also help you get a better sleep. If you don’t already have a prescription, talk to your doctor about medication that can help manage your pain.”

10. Get into physical therapy 

If you’re suffering from hip bursitis, or another overuse injury, physical therapy can really help. As the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons writes:

“Your doctor may prescribe exercises to increase hip strength and flexibility. You may do these exercises on your own, or a physical therapist may teach you how to stretch your hip muscles and use other treatments such as rolling therapy (massage), ice, heat, or ultrasound.”

11. Consider aspiration for hip bursitis

For severe cases of hip bursitis, your doctor may recommend aspirating, or draining, the bursa with a needle. This is typically done in combination with a hip injection.

12. Learn more about hip injections  

Hip injections may be performed to both diagnose and treat hip pain. They involve injecting a local anesthetic combined with a steroid or corticosteroid directly into the outer regions of the spinal cord. This is where nerves lead to the hip, or in the hip joint itself. This procedure can:

• Help diagnose what specific nerve is leading to your pain
• Focus further treatments
• Inhibit pain signals of hip nerves
• Drain fluid in the hip

Hip injections provide a minimally-invasive and safe treatment option for more moderate to severe cases of hip pain.

13. Talk to your doctor about radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is another procedure that has helped some patients. It disrupts the nerves from sending painful signals. This is done with the use of heat to impair or destroy the nerves that are causing pain.

Again, radiofrequency ablation is minimally-invasive. It’s a safe procedure for many who are suffering from hip pain. Since pain relief isn’t permanent, it’s best done in combination with physical therapy to resolve the underlying cause of your pain. You can watch a radiofrequency ablation procedure in the following video.