Hip pain in middle of the night; dull ache that wakes me up. What could it be?

64 yo female. Hip pain at night only. I finally determined it was cramps in my psoas and illiacus muscles. (I've had occasional problems with foot cramps at night for years.) I studied stretches for these muscles on youtube, adopted an exercise regime, and am immensely better after three months. Problems correlate to walking vigorously uphill or sitting for a few hours in a strange chair during the day, so I am especially vigilant in doing stretches after such an activity. If I wake up hurting, I get up, do stretches, take an aspirin, and am usually fine.

I am a 52 year old female, maybe 10 to 15 pounds over ideal weight, not as active as I should be, but I do stand on my feet for 8-9 hours a day, continuous, at work. I also was having deep, dull, hip pain that was not alliviated by pain medicine, and would transfer from one hip to the other when I turned over in bed. I read many of the pages of comments here and so many of them were similar to my own experience. My pain was usually between 2 and 6pm; I am usually getting up at 5 or 6pm. I first experienced the pain last spring and thought it was arthritis, I have arthritis in other areas but the pain from those areas is usually worse in cold or rainy weather. It was spring and getting warm so I couldn't understand it. We went on vacation the first of August and I hadn't had the pain since then until night before last. Some of the posts here were from people who were runners. To make a long story shorter, I narrowed my activity down to a walk on the tredmill. That day was the first time I had been on the tredmill since before our vacation. Day before last and last spring I had been walking on the tredmill about 30 minutes, 20 of it with the incline graduated all the way up, for 4-5 days a week. So to test the theory I did not walk on the tredmill yesterday and NO pain last night. I am going to test the theory further and see if I can walk level without pain. I am not sure what this means as far as the root cause of the pain, sciatica? But, now I know the cause and can stop the pain. I do not have medical insurance so multiple visits to the doctor are out of the question and honestly don't appear to have helped many here. Thanks to everyone who posted here. This is a very helpful site!

See an active release specialist. It's your hip flexors. Terrible at night. Only relief I get is sleeping w pillow under leg that's on top. Found relief releasing the hip flexors. Get moving.

Hi to everybody with the same hip pain.

I have had the pain for 8 years and it started during my pregnancy.
I was wondering for all these years what was going on. And since it did not hurt during the day, I somehow learnt to live with it.

Then I decided to make an appointment with a massage therapist. She explained that bones and muscles tend to strech in all ways (simply put) because of pregnancies, sports and even because of no sport. The conclusion was that We all have to be reset periodically with massages and streching preferably with professional help.

Of course, have a cehck-up to exclude any anomalies but understand that with age bodies change and need resetting.

Regards to all of you

This is what I also have: 49 years old and femaie.
Had xray last week, Internal med doc can see something in the hip joint where my leg enters hips. He took xray over to radiologist at the hospital while I waited. He said either early artritis or some sort of injury that may need surgery to repair. He said take 2 advil or aleve at night for 2 weeks and call him with results. If advil helps its artritis.

Hello Anonymous,

Your parents were right on the mark by giving you magnesium and calcium supplements for the leg cramps.

According to MedicineNet.com, " Low blood levels of either calcium or magnesium directly increase the excitability of both the nerve endings and the muscles they stimulate. This may be a predisposing factor for the spontaneous true cramps."

Cramps are seen in any circumstance that decreases the availability of calcium or magnesium in body fluids, such as taking diuretics or inadquate amounts of these two mineral in the diet.

Thanks for posting,

Maryann

I have these pains as well. They are very much like what my parents called "growing pains" when I was young. I remember them giving me magnisum and calcium with a glass of mild and it went away. I like the suggestion of magnesium. The pain in my legs and hips comes and goes. They seem to come on stronger when I am dieting.

Hello Anonymous,
In trying to pinpoint the cause of your deep dull ache in your hips and outer thighs, did you do anything different yesterday, before the onset of the ache? Like straining or pulling a muscle during strenuous activity or being on your feet for any exceptionally longer time?

If the ache is strong enough to wake you from sleep and continues for more than a day, I suggest that you give your doctor a call.
Your physician can determine if diagnostic testing, such as a MRI is necessary or he or she may recommend a mild analgesic or applying a heating pad.

Maryann

I am looking for an answer also. I have a deep dull ache, not a pain, in the same area. It started last night. It woke me up. When I got up this morning I had the same ache and it seems like it moves down into my leg. Don't know wether to take this serious of not. If it was a pain I don't think I wouldn't worry so much, but it is like a deep muscle ache.

the aching in my hips and outer thighs at night is getting worse. I thought it was my weight so i lost a few kilos but it didnt make a difference. I always end up sleeping on my back but the aching still nags me so i end up tossing and turning. Im hoping its nothing serious and im relieved to know im not alone.