Does Your Hip Hurt When You Sleep? Here’s How to Get Relief
Key takeaways:
If you have hip pain, it can get worse at night and may make it hard to get a good night’s sleep.
Nighttime hip pain may be caused by conditions like arthritis or hip bursitis. But it may also be caused by the way you sleep or your mattress.
Small changes — such as adjusting your sleep posture, using pillows for support, or upgrading your mattress — can ease discomfort and improve sleep quality.
There are also stretching and strengthening exercises you can do to help relieve hip pain.
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If your hip pain keeps you awake at night, you’re not alone. About 1 in 3 people with hip arthritis have pain at night. Hip pain while sleeping is also a common complaint in pregnant women.
There are a number of reasons why hip pain may feel worse at night.
When the distractions of the day fade, you may notice aches that you ignored while you were moving about. Also, lying still in bed can make your hip joint stiff, because movement helps keep your joints flexible. And, in some cases, your sleep position — or your mattress — may put extra pressure on your hips.
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But there are ways you can help reduce your nighttime hip pain. Read on to learn how making small changes — like adjusting your position or stretching before bed — can relieve hip pain while sleeping.
What causes nighttime hip pain?
There are different reasons you may have hip pain at night, from osteoarthritis and injuries to a too-soft mattress. Here are some of the main causes of nighttime hip pain.
Health conditions and injuries
Hip osteoarthritis is a common cause of hip pain. Osteoarthritis is generally caused by wear and tear on the joints. It happens when the cartilage that cushions your hip joint wears down over time. Without this cushioning, your hip bones rub against each other, causing pain and stiffness. Hip pain can be worse when you’re sitting or lying down and not moving.
Aside from arthritis, here are some other common health conditions or injuries that can cause your hips to ache at night:
Hip bursitis: This happens when small fluid sacs that cushion your hip joint get inflamed. Hip bursitis can cause sharp or aching pain on the outside of your hip, especially when you lie on it.
Hip flexor strain: This is when you overstretch or tear the hip flexors, the muscles at the front of your hip. It can cause pain and tightness, which might feel worse at night, especially if you sleep with your legs bent.
Hip tendinopathy: This is when the tendons around your hip get inflamed or damaged from overuse or strain. It can make your hip feel sore or stiff, especially if you put pressure on the sore tendon while sleeping.
If you experience constant hip pain at night, it's a good idea to talk to a healthcare professional to get a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. There are many other medical conditions and injuries that can lead to hip pain.
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Hip pain while sitting? Sitting for too long can tighten muscles and tendons around your hips. Read about causes and how to treat your hip pain.
Need help falling asleep? Try these strategies that can relax your mind and body to make it easier to fall asleep.
Sleep position
Do your hips feel fine throughout the day and only hurt while sleeping or when you wake up? Your sleeping position may be to blame. A sleep position that puts too much pressure on your joints may cause pain.
This can happen with side sleepers when the hip you lay on absorbs too much pressure. Your other hip might ache too if it isn’t aligned properly with your spine.
You may want to look at your mattress as well. A mattress that’s too firm or too soft can make it harder for you to keep your body aligned:
If it’s too soft, your joints sink into the mattress from a lack of support.
If it’s too firm, you can experience too much hip pressure without enough “give” to keep your spine well aligned.
Pregnancy
Your body undergoes many changes during pregnancy. For example, your joints and ligaments relax. This will ultimately allow the baby to move through the birth canal. But it can also cause hip pain.
Your growing belly may also put pressure on your sciatic nerve. This is a large nerve that goes from your back down your legs. When this nerve is compressed, it can cause pain or numbness in your butt, hips, and thighs.
Plus, you may find that your growing baby bump makes it harder to get comfortable and to keep your hips aligned while you sleep.
How to relieve hip pain while sleeping?
There are steps you can take to improve your comfort and get a better night’s rest. Here are some effective ways to ease hip pain.
Ice and heat packs
You can use ice or heat to soothe hip pain from bursitis, strains, or tendinopathy.
Applying an ice pack can numb the area if inflammation or an injury causes your hip pain. Try icing your hip with an ice pack for 15 to 20 minutes before bed.
Heat packs can loosen tight muscles and improve blood flow. A warm compress or heating pad may help ease achiness before bed. Use heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
You can also try soaking in a hot bath before bed.
Stretching and strengthening
Gentle stretches or light exercises before bed can relieve tension in the muscles around your hips. Stretching your hip flexors, hamstrings, and glutes can improve flexibility and reduce stiffness. (Below, we’ll cover specific exercises to do before bed.)
Low-impact activities like yoga or may also help by strengthening the muscles that support your hips. Be sure to keep movements slow and controlled to avoid overstressing your joints.
Sleep positions and support
Your sleeping position plays a big role in hip pain. These strategies are also good for preventing back pain:
Switch positions. If you tend to sleep on your side, switch to your back or vice versa and see if that helps.
Align your hips. If you prefer to sleep on your side, try placing a pillow between your knees. This helps keep your hips aligned. Your hips should be stacked, rather than tilting forward. Also, be aware of your head and neck. Make sure they’re in a neutral position rather than curled forward. Ideally, your body should be straight, not curved. A full-length body pillow can also help keep you aligned.
Reduce back pressure. If you sleep on your back, it may help to place a small pillow under your knees to reduce pressure on your hips and lower back.
Avoid stomach sleeping. It can strain your hips and spine.
Upgrading your mattress
Your mattress may be contributing to the problem if it’s too firm or too soft. A soft mattress may feel cushy. But it doesn’t typically offer enough support to keep your body aligned. And a mattress that’s too firm may put too much pressure on your hips.
Most of the research on mattresses focuses on reducing neck or back pain, not specifically hip pain. But these studies show that a medium-firm mattress is best at providing both support and cushioning to keep you aligned. And this may benefit your hips as well.
If you have a firm mattress, you may not have to upgrade. A memory foam mattress topper can provide extra comfort and relieve pressure on your hips.
Medications
If the pain is keeping you awake, consider taking an over-the-counter (OTC) pain reliever. An example is an NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug), which can help reduce swelling and pain.
Taking NSAIDs regularly may not be safe for some people, especially people over age 65. NSAIDs can raise the risk of heart attack, stroke, and intestinal bleeding. Talk to your primary care provider about whether taking NSAIDs is safe for you.
Another option is to apply a pain-relief cream directly to the hip for targeted relief. These include:
Topical NSAIDs, like Voltaren. This medication isn’t absorbed by the body as much as oral NSAIDs are, so it’s less likely to cause complications.
Lidocaine patches
What are the best exercises for hip pain?
When it comes to managing hip pain, regular, targeted exercises are important. They can strengthen the muscles around your hip joint, improve flexibility, and ease discomfort. The key is to choose gentle movements that don't place extra stress on your hips.
Try these stretches and strengthening exercises to ease your hip pain.
1. Piriformis stretch
This stretch lengthens your piriformis. Your piriformis is a small muscle that can press on the sciatic nerve and cause pain in your hips and lower back. Stretching it can help relieve the pain. Here’s how to do this stretch:
Sitting on a chair, bring your left ankle up onto your right knee.
Keeping your back straight, slowly bend at the hips until you feel a stretch in your left buttocks.
Hold for 30 seconds.
Switch legs and repeat.
2. Glute bridge
A glute bridge can help strengthen your buttocks muscles (glutes). And it can lengthen your hip flexors, which will reduce strain at the sides of the hips. Here’s how to do a glute bridge:
Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet hip-width apart.
Contract your abs and squeeze your glutes, as you slowly raise your hips off the ground a few inches.
Hold for 5 seconds.
Slowly lower your hips.
Repeat 10 to 15 times.
3. Clamshell
The clamshell exercise can help strengthen the muscles on the outer hip and buttocks to help stabilize the hip joint. Here’s how to do it:
Lie on your side and bend your knees to a 45-degree angle.
Keep your knees and ankles stacked on top of each other.
While keeping your feet touching, slowly lift your top knee.
Make sure not to rock your hips back.
Hold for 2 to 3 seconds, and bring your knee back down.
Do 10 to 15 lifts.
Switch to the other side and repeat.
When should you see a healthcare professional for hip pain while sleeping?
You may be able to manage nighttime hip pain on your own with preventive measures. But you may want to get help from a healthcare professional if you have these symptoms:
Pain that won’t go away after about a week
Pain that’s getting worse
Swelling or redness around the hip
Pain that limits your ability to sleep or to do your daytime activities
Other symptoms with your hip pain — fever, weight loss, or pain in other joints
Healthcare professionals can figure out what’s causing the pain and suggest other treatments, like physical therapy or prescription medication. Getting help early can keep your pain from getting worse.
Frequently asked questions
As your belly gets bigger toward the end of your third trimester, it may cause more pain in your hips and other areas.
The best sleep position is on your left side with your knees bent. Put a pillow between your legs. You can also support your abdomen with another pillow. A full-length body pillow can provide support for your abdomen and your knees.
Hip bursitis is an inflammation of bursa sacs that cushion the joint. Common symptoms of hip bursitis are:
Pain on the outside of the hip, often spreading down the thigh
Pain worsening at night, especially when lying on the affected side or after sitting for a while
Increased pain during activities like walking, climbing stairs, or squatting
A heating pad may ease your hip pain. But sleeping with one isn’t safe. Prolonged exposure to heat may damage your skin and cause burns. While asleep, you can’t properly monitor your skin temperature.
The pad also can be a fire hazard. Some heating pads turn off automatically after an hour or two. But even this may cause burns if the heat setting is too high. The safest choice is to turn off your heating pad before you fall asleep.
The bottom line
Nighttime hip pain can be a frustrating and exhausting issue. But there are steps you can take to find relief. You can use ice or heat before bed and do some stretches to loosen up the area. You may need to change or adjust your sleep position and look at whether your mattress is adding to the problem. If the pain doesn’t go away or worsens, it’s important to talk to a healthcare professional. They can help identify any underlying conditions and offer treatments like physical therapy or medications. These will help to manage your symptoms so you can get a better night’s sleep.
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References
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