Hip Pain Physio Logan QLD: Gluteal Tendinopathy, Bursitis, Hip Arthritis and Impingement

Hip pain physio in Logan: gluteal tendinopathy, ‘bursitis’, hip arthritis and impingement explained

Pain on the outside of the hip that stops you lying on that side, aches after a walk and catches on the stairs is usually not ‘bursitis’ in the way it used to be described — it is gluteal tendinopathy, and it has one of the clearest treatment answers in musculoskeletal medicine. An Australian trial published in the BMJ found education plus a structured exercise program beat both a cortisone injection and waiting it out, at eight weeks and again at a year. Here is how we tell the common hip problems apart, what the evidence says about each, and what recovery looks like.

The four hip problems that fill our diary — and how to tell them apart

Gluteal tendinopathy (‘hip bursitis’, greater trochanteric pain syndrome) is pain over the bony point on the side of the hip. The gluteal tendons that attach there are overloaded and irritable; the bursa is usually a bystander. It is worst lying on the side at night, standing on one leg, climbing stairs and after long walks. A population study of 3,026 adults aged 50 to 79 found it in about 15% of women and 7% of men on one side, and women were more than three times as likely to have it — which matches our Daisy Hill caseload of women in their 40s to 60s who have been told it is bursitis and given an injection that wore off.

Hip osteoarthritis presents as a deep groin ache, stiffness getting out of the car or putting on socks, and a slowly shrinking walking distance. Exercise is the first-line treatment in every major guideline, and the GLA:D education-and-exercise principles we use for knees (see our knee physio page) apply just as well to the hip. A replacement is a good operation for the right hip at the right time — and rehab before and after it is where we come in.

Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and labral pain is the younger adult’s hip: a pinching groin pain with deep squats, sitting low or sport, from the shape of the ball and socket. It can be treated with physiotherapy or with keyhole surgery, and — unusually — we have a large trial that compared the two head to head (below).

Pain referred from the back is the impostor. Buttock and outer-thigh pain from the lumbar spine or the sacroiliac joint is routinely mistaken for a hip problem. Every hip assessment includes the back, and our back pain page explains that side.

Exercise versus injection versus waiting: what the LEAP trial found

The LEAP trial (BMJ, 2018), run in Brisbane and Melbourne, took 204 people aged 35 to 70 with MRI-confirmed gluteal tendinopathy and more than three months of lateral hip pain — 167 of them women, average age 55 — and randomised them to a physiotherapist-led education and exercise program of 14 sessions over eight weeks, a single corticosteroid injection, or a wait-and-see approach.

At eight weeks, 77% of the exercise group reported being moderately better or more, against 58% of the injection group and 29% of those who waited. Pain scores told the same story: 1.5 out of 10 for exercise, 2.7 for injection, 3.8 for wait-and-see. At 52 weeks the exercise group still led on global improvement — 78% versus 57% for injection and 52% for wait-and-see — and pain was similar between exercise and injection, both better than waiting. The core of the program was load-management education (stop the compressive habits: crossing legs, hanging on one hip, side-lying without support) plus progressive gluteal strengthening. That is the program we run.

For hip impingement, the UK FASHIoN trial (Lancet, 2018) randomised 348 people across 23 NHS hospitals to keyhole surgery or a personalised, physiotherapist-led program. Both groups improved substantially at 12 months; surgery came out ahead by a modest margin (6.8 points on the iHOT-33 quality-of-life score, just above the threshold for a clinically important difference), and had more reported adverse events (72% of patients versus 60%). We tell patients that honestly: a good rehab program improves most impinging hips, surgery adds a little on average, and the right choice depends on your goals, your sport and your tolerance for an operation. We refer for a surgical opinion when the picture fits.

How we assess a hip in Daisy Hill

We start with where it hurts and when — side, groin or buttock; night, stairs, sitting or walking — because that alone narrows the diagnosis a long way. Then we examine hip range and the movements that reproduce your pain, single-leg standing control and gluteal strength, the back and sacroiliac joint, and the way you walk and climb a step. Where a baseline measurement will change the plan — a strength-symmetry question, a return-to-running decision — our VALD force-plate testing gives a number rather than a guess.

Imaging is requested when it will change management. Hip X-rays are useful when arthritis is suspected; MRI findings of gluteal tendon change and labral tears are common in people without pain, so we treat the hip in front of us and use the scan to confirm, not to decide.

What hip physiotherapy involves

For gluteal tendinopathy the two halves are education and loading. The education half removes the compressive habits that keep the tendon irritable — how you sleep, sit and stand — and it is not optional: it was built into the LEAP program for a reason. The loading half is progressive gluteal strengthening: bridges, sit-to-stands and side-stepping early, moving to single-leg and resisted work over eight or more weeks. The heavy-slow-resistance logic in our tendon pain guide applies here too.

For hip arthritis the program is strength, mobility and walking capacity, progressed in our gym-based rehab space, with one-on-one hydrotherapy for hips that cannot yet tolerate full weight on land, and clinical pilates where control and mobility are the limiting factors. Before and after a hip replacement, the physiotherapist works to the surgeon’s protocol to rebuild walking, strength and confidence. Because hip strength is also one of the things that protects older adults from falls, this work overlaps with our falls prevention and older-adult physiotherapy.

Hip pain at a glance

Side-of-hip pain that is worst lying on it at night is usually gluteal tendinopathy, not bursitis · Education plus exercise beat a cortisone injection at eight weeks and one year in the LEAP trial · Groin pain and stiffness point to the joint itself — arthritis in older adults, impingement in younger ones · Buttock and outer-thigh pain is often the back, not the hip · See a doctor urgently for hip pain after a fall with an inability to weight-bear, a hot swollen joint with fever, or sudden severe groin pain in a child or teenager.

Paying for hip physio in Logan

Private patients can claim on the spot through HICAPS — see our physiotherapy fees page. Hip arthritis and long-standing gluteal tendinopathy are commonly managed under a GP chronic condition management plan, where Medicare rebates item 10960 ($63.40 from 1 July 2026, up to five allied health visits a calendar year, pooled across professions) — details on our Medicare physiotherapy page. DVA card holders pay nothing for accepted conditions, NDIS participants can use their plan, and hip injuries from a car accident are covered under a Queensland CTP claim.

Book a hip assessment in Daisy Hill

Daisy Hill Physio is at Unit 4, 11–13 Allamanda Drive, Daisy Hill QLD 4127 — in Logan City, Queensland, Australia (not Logan, Utah) — and sees hip patients from Springwood, Shailer Park, Slacks Creek, Underwood, Rochedale South, Cornubia and Loganholme. Book online or call 07 3209 2000 and tell reception it is a hip problem. Physiotherapist Teya Williams leads much of our joint, strength and older-adult work; meet the whole team on our team page or read how to choose a physio in Logan.

Reviewed by Teya Williams, Physiotherapist, Daisy Hill Physio. Content current at 16 September 2026. This page is general information, not a diagnosis — see a physiotherapist or GP for advice about your own situation.

Sources: Mellor R et al. Education plus exercise versus corticosteroid injection use versus a wait and see approach on global outcome and pain from gluteal tendinopathy: prospective, single blinded, randomised clinical trial (LEAP). BMJ 2018;361:k1662 · Segal NA et al. Greater trochanteric pain syndrome: epidemiology and associated factors. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2007;88:988–992 · Griffin DR et al. Hip arthroscopy versus best conservative care for the treatment of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (UK FASHIoN): a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2018;391:2225–2235. Accessed 16 September 2026.