Hip problems are the ones patients most often get wrong — not because they are rare, but because the hip refers pain somewhere else. People arrive having been treated for months for a back problem, or for a knee problem, when the joint that is actually worn is the hip.

If you need a hip specialist in Faridabad, the first job is to establish that the hip is genuinely the source of your pain. That takes an examination, not just a scan.

I am Dr. Sunil Choudhary, FRCS (Trauma & Orthopaedics). I trained in hip and lower-limb reconstruction in the UK at North Tees University Hospital and at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, and I perform primary and revision hip replacement at the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Faridabad.

Hip pain is often not where you think it is

True hip joint pain is usually felt in the groin, sometimes radiating to the front of the thigh and occasionally as far as the knee. Pain over the outer side of the hip is more often bursitis or gluteal tendon trouble. Pain in the buttock running down the back of the leg is more often spinal.

This distinction matters enormously. I regularly see patients who have had spine injections or physiotherapy for a year for pain that a hip X-ray explains in thirty seconds. If you are seeing a hip pain doctor in Faridabad, ask to have both the hip and the spine assessed at the same visit. Whether it is your back or your hip

Conditions that bring patients to a hip specialist

  • Hip osteoarthritis — groin pain, stiffness, difficulty putting on socks or shoes, reduced walking distance
  • Avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head — loss of blood supply to the ball of the hip
  • Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) — abnormal hip shape causing groin pain in younger, active adults
  • Hip fractures — particularly femoral neck fractures in older adults, which need urgent surgery
  • Trochanteric bursitis and gluteal tendinopathy — outer hip pain, often worse lying on that side
  • Failed hip replacement — loosening, wear, instability or infection after previous surgery

Avascular necrosis — why early diagnosis changes everything

AVN deserves its own section because it is the condition where delay costs the most. Blood supply to the femoral head is interrupted, the bone weakens, and eventually the ball of the hip collapses. Before collapse, the joint can sometimes be saved with core decompression. After collapse, replacement becomes the only reliable option.

AVN is strongly associated with prolonged steroid use, significant alcohol intake, sickle cell disease and previous hip trauma — and it affects a much younger group than osteoarthritis, often people in their thirties and forties. An X-ray can be completely normal in early AVN. It needs an MRI. If you have groin pain and any of those risk factors, ask for one.

How we diagnose hip problems

Good hip joint pain treatment in Faridabad depends on getting the diagnosis right first.

  • Examination — gait, leg length, and the pattern of restricted movement. In hip arthritis, internal rotation is lost first, which is why early arthritis is often picked up on examination before it is obvious on film.
  • X-ray — a standing pelvis view plus a lateral of the affected hip
  • MRI — when AVN, early impingement or a labral tear is suspected, or when X-rays look normal but symptoms do not
  • Diagnostic injection — occasionally, local anaesthetic into the hip joint settles definitively whether the pain is coming from the hip or the spine

Treatment without surgery

Early and moderate hip arthritis can often be managed for years without an operation: targeted physiotherapy for the gluteal muscles and core, weight management, activity modification, a walking stick used in the opposite hand, and analgesia used sensibly. Bursitis and gluteal tendinopathy respond well to loading programmes and, where needed, a single guided injection.

Hip preservation surgery for younger patients

For younger patients the aim is to keep the natural joint. Core decompression can halt progression in pre-collapse AVN. Surgery for impingement can address the mechanical cause of groin pain before it wears the joint out. These options narrow quickly as damage advances, which is another reason not to wait.

Hip replacement — partial, total and revision

When the joint is worn out, hip replacement is one of the most reliable operations in all of surgery for relieving pain. We offer total hip replacement for arthritis and AVN, partial hip replacement for fractures principally for displaced femoral neck fractures in older patients, and revision hip replacement when a previous implant has failed.

Meet your hip surgeon

Senior Clinical Fellow in Knee and Hip Surgery, North Tees University Hospital, UK. International Training Fellow in Lower Limb Reconstruction. FRCS (Trauma & Orthopaedics), Royal College of Surgeons of England. Senior Consultant and Unit Head, Orthopaedics, Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Faridabad.

Frequently asked questions about hip treatment

Is my pain coming from my hip or my back?

As a general rule, groin pain is the hip and buttock pain radiating below the knee is the spine — but the two overlap and can coexist. The reliable way to settle it is examination of both, a standing pelvis X-ray, and occasionally a diagnostic injection.

I am 35 with hip pain. Surely I am too young for arthritis?

You are young for osteoarthritis, but not for avascular necrosis or impingement, both of which affect exactly your age group. Persistent groin pain at 35 should be investigated rather than dismissed, and usually needs an MRI rather than only an X-ray.

Will I be able to sit cross-legged after a hip replacement?

This matters in India more than most Western guidance acknowledges. Many patients do return to sitting cross-legged, but it depends on the surgical approach, the implant and how well the soft tissues recover. Deep squatting carries a dislocation risk in the early months. Tell me before surgery if floor-sitting is essential for you — it influences the plan.

How long does a hip replacement last?

Modern hip replacements have survivorship data showing a large majority still functioning at fifteen to twenty years and beyond. Longevity depends on age at surgery, activity level, weight and the bearing surface used.

My elderly parent has fractured a hip. How urgent is surgery?

Very. A hip fracture in an older adult should be fixed or replaced within 24 to 48 hours wherever the patient is medically fit. Delay significantly increases the risk of chest infection, pressure sores, clots and death. This is one of the few genuine emergencies in orthopaedics.

Author & Medical Review

Medically reviewed by Dr. Sunil Choudhary, MBBS, MS, DNB, MRCS, FRCS (Tr & Orth).