Pain and Pain Management
Snapping hip syndrome is often seen in dancers, since dancers are constantly standing perfectly straight and resisting the natural posture of their body. It is a condition in which the dancer or athlete hears/ feels a snapping or popping sensation in the hip joint. For the majority of the population, snapping hip syndrome does not cause pain or discomfort, but in a sport where the athlete is constantly manipulating the hip joint, such as in dance, it may cause some pain or discomfort consequently leading to an interference with performance. If the dancer does feel pain or discomfort from this condition some suggested methods of treatment to reduce it include: reducing or modifying activity, applying …show more content…
In the case of dancers, it is often caused by the shortening of tendons as a result of standing upright. Humans naturally stand with a slight backwards curve in the spine, allowing these tendons to remain elongated. However, dancers usually stand perfectly straight, directly over top of the legs causing the tendons to shorten from the lack of this type of consistent stretching. This in turn causes the tendon to stretch uncomfortably over the boney part when the dancer manipulates the hip causing a snapping sound. This sensation usually occurs outside the hip where the iliotibial band is located- this is where the head of the femur juts out. When standing, the band is behind this boney part and when sitting or bending the hip, the band moves in front of the part, this may cause a snapping sensation. Another possible sight of snapping hip syndrome is where the iliopsoas tendon is located, this tendon connects the hip to the inner part of the upper thigh. An additional site of snapping could be where the epiphysis of the femur fits into the socket of the pelvis to form the hip joint. The snapping occurs when the rectus femoris tendon, which runs from inside the thighbone up through the pelvis, moves back and forth across the ball when the hip is bent and