Rolling onto your side at night and feeling a sharp ache on the outside of your hip. Getting up from a chair, climbing stairs or standing for a while and feeling the same. Outer hip pain, often called trochanteric bursitis, can disrupt your sleep and your day. Understanding it can help you find more comfortable positions and ease the load.

What trochanteric bursitis means

The bony point on the outside of your hip is called the greater trochanter. Several tendons from your buttock muscles attach here, and there is a small cushion, called a bursa, that helps them glide.

The term trochanteric bursitis is often used for pain in this area. Research now suggests that most of the time, the pain mainly comes from the tendons rather than the bursa. That is why it is sometimes also called gluteal tendon pain or greater trochanteric pain.

It is very common, especially in women over 40. It often develops after a change in activity, like more walking or stairs, or with long spells of standing or sitting in certain positions.

Why it hurts when you lie on your side

The tendons on the outside of your hip are sensitive to being squashed. Lying on the sore side presses directly on them. Lying on your other side can also hurt if your top leg drops across your body, as this stretches and squeezes the tendons against the bone.

Sleeping more comfortably

Some changes that can help at night:

• Lie on your other side with a pillow between your knees and ankles, so your top leg stays level.
• Lie on your back with a pillow under your knees.
• If you prefer lying on the sore side, a soft mattress topper or folded duvet underneath can ease the pressure.

Positions to ease for now

Some everyday positions can squash the tendons. Easing them for a while can help them settle:

• Sit with your legs uncrossed and both feet on the floor.
• Choose higher chairs, so your knees are not higher than your hips.
• When standing, share your weight between both feet rather than leaning on one hip.
• Avoid stretches that pull your leg across your body.
• When getting out of the car, swing both legs out together.

Feeling tight on the outside of your hip does not mean the tendons need stretching. Gentle strength tends to help more.

Easing load on the side of the hip

Some changes to your daily activity can help:

• Break longer walks into shorter ones spread across the day.
• Take stairs one at a time, leading with your stronger leg going up.
• Choose flatter routes for now.
• Take slightly shorter steps when walking.

Building strength

Strengthening the muscles around your hip helps the tendons cope with more. In a large trial of people with this kind of outer hip pain, those who had education about daily habits plus a gradual strength programme did better than those who had a steroid injection or waited to see.

Something to try three or four times a week:

• Standing side press. Stand side-on to a wall, with the sore side furthest away. Bend the knee nearest the wall and press it gently into the wall for 30 to 45 seconds. Repeat a few times.
• Bridges. Lie on your back with your knees bent, lift your hips, then lower slowly.
• Sit to stand. Rise from a chair without using your hands, then lower slowly.
• Step-ups onto a low step, keeping your pelvis level.

If you would like to follow along, VIDA has short videos of bridges and sit to stands you can use at your own pace. If you have been given exercises by a physiotherapist, keep following those.

A mild ache that settles by the next day is usually fine. If your hip is sorer the following morning, ease back a little.

When to get it checked

If your pain is not easing after several weeks of these changes, your GP or a physiotherapist can talk through other options with you.

Your VIDA pain check-in can help you notice how your hip and sleep improve over time.

What to take away

• Outer hip pain usually comes from sensitive tendons, and it is very common.
• Sleep with a pillow between your knees and ankles.
• Sit with your legs uncrossed and stand with your weight on both feet.
• Avoid stretches that pull your leg across your body.
• Build strength gradually, three or four times a week.

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