What Causes Snapping Hip?

Participating in sports and activities that require repeated hip abduction is associated with a higher risk of developing snapping hip syndrome. Usually harmless and painless, a snapping hip can happen where a tendon or muscle passes over a bone.

Professional dancers and young athletes are particularly vulnerable to snapping hip because they are prone to tight hip muscles and tendons.

Common causes of snapping hip syndrome in dancers are:

• The outside of the hip is the most common site of snapping hip. It occurs where the IT band moves over a bony structure on top of the femur known as the greater trochanter. When a dancer ignores IT band syndrome, it can progress to hip bursitis and disabling pain when walking or using the stairs.
• The rectus femoris tendon—which runs from the front of the thigh up to the pelvis—can also cause snapping hip syndrome when it moves back-and-forth across the head of the femur as the dancer bends or straightens at the hip.
• Additionally, when the bursa is inflamed or there is a cartilage tear the iliopsoas tendon can catch on bony prominences on the front of the pelvis, causing a clicking sensation. Snapping hip can also result from muscular imbalance, skeletal inconsistencies (e.g., leg length discrepancy) or previous hip injuries.

The most common symptoms experienced by dancers with snapping hip inside the joint are a smaller range of motion in the hip accompanied by a painful clicking, or snapping sensation felt inside the joint.

How is Snapping Hip Syndrome Treated?

It’s uncommon for people to see a doctor for snapping hip unless they are experiencing pain. If the snapping hip is bothersome—but not to the point of seeing a physician—it can typically be treated with home remedies.

Traditional home treatment options for snapping hip are:

• Reducing activity levels
• Applying ice
• Taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) to reduce discomfort
• Modifying sport and exercise activities to avoid repetitive movement of the hip

Sometimes these traditional treatments aren’t enough to soothe overuse injuries like snapping hip. However, in these instances, many athletes and professional dancers can relieve the pain and inflammation with CBD treatments.

How Effective is CBD for Snapping Hip Syndrome and Osteoarthritis?

Dancers are at risk of developing joint disease due to overuse injuries and repeated microtraumas, such as snapping hip. Using cannabidiol may not only relieve the pain, but it may also slow down the progression of osteoarthritis disease.

Joint re-scaffolding cells in joints are shown to express a wide range of cannabinoid receptors even in diseased tissues.

According to one study, the cells involved in joint repair can positively respond to CBD therapy because cannabinoids bind to cell receptors on the joint fascia and inhibit the breakdown of cells and pain pathways within the arthritic, painful joint. Researchers found that CBD eased pain associated with arthritis in mice, and although that finding wasn’t particularly revelatory, the researchers found something remarkable—the anti-inflammatory effects of CBD may also disrupt the progression of the condition.

By slowing the progression of arthritis, CBD may allow some dancers to have longer careers.

How Do You Use CBD for Joint Pain?

Using a CBD oil on a painful hip can work quickly, reaching the affected area through the skin to reduce acute or breakthrough pain. Oral CBD solutions are also useful for reducing joint pain because of its anti-inflammatory and general pain-relieving properties. One such product, Symbio MEND, was formulated specifically to combat mild to moderate osteoarthritis and inflammation to keep up the health of cartilage and joints.

While CBD might help with joint pain and arthritis, it’s important to take care of your body. Even for a healthy dancer, dancing for longer than five hours a day increases the risk of injury. However, since there is no offseason for dancers, it can be difficult for them to give their bodies enough time to rest putting themselves in danger.

Thus, remember that while CBD helps with pain relief, it’s still important to rest if the dancer wants to make a full recovery.

It’s essential to protect your joints and CBD has promising potential—with regular CBD therapy you will notice a positive change in coordination, memory and musculoskeletal repair without toxic side effects. To limit the possibility of joint damage, a healthy combination of traditional treatments and CBD can give the dancer’s body the pain relief and protection it needs for a long dance career.