What should you know about IT band bursitis in the hip?

A bursa is a small fluid-filled cushion that helps tissues glide over one another. Repeated friction, direct pressure, a training change, or altered movement can irritate a bursa around the outer hip. Pain may be worse when lying on that side, climbing stairs, walking uphill, or pressing the area. Visible swelling is not always present, and pain on the outside of the hip can overlap with tendon irritation. Joint swelling, fever, redness, or a hot area deserves a medical assessment because infection or another joint problem needs to be considered.

Avoid lying on the painful side and use a pillow between the knees if side sleeping is uncomfortable. Reduce hills, repetitive stairs, and movements that reproduce the pain for a short period, then return gradually. Cold packs wrapped in cloth may calm soreness. A clinician may discuss anti-inflammatory medication if it is suitable for your health history. Physiotherapy can address hip strength and movement habits. If symptoms do not settle, a cortisone injection may be considered; joint aspiration is reserved for selected cases where fluid needs testing or removal.

Book an appointment if pain continues, affects sleep, causes limping, or returns whenever activity resumes. Seek prompt care for a rapidly enlarging swelling, spreading redness, fever, chills, severe pain after an injury, or inability to walk. Do not self-treat a hot, very tender swelling without assessment.

Is the pain from a bursa, tendon, or the hip joint? Should swelling be examined or sampled? Is anti-inflammatory medication safe with my other medicines? Would an injection or physiotherapy suit my situation, and how should activity change?