The Short Answer
If you can't sleep on your side because of hip pain, you've likely been diagnosed with "Bursitis." But if cortisone shots haven't worked, it's because the bursa isn't the problem. The problem is usually adhesions in the gluteus medius and minimus muscles. When you lie on your side, you compress these adhered muscles, cutting off blood flow and causing deep, aching pain. Releasing the adhesions restores blood flow and allows you to sleep pain-free.
It's the same story every night. You fall asleep fine, but 2 hours later, you wake up with a deep, throbbing ache in the side of your hip. You roll over to the other side. 2 hours later, that hip starts hurting too.
You're exhausted. You've bought a mattress topper. You sleep with a pillow between your knees. Nothing helps.
Your doctor probably called it Trochanteric Bursitis and gave you a cortisone shot. Maybe it helped for a week, maybe it didn't help at all.
Why Cortisone Fails
Cortisone is a powerful anti-inflammatory. If your pain is caused by a swollen bursa (fluid-filled sac), cortisone should work like magic.
If the shot didn't work, inflammation isn't the primary problem.
The problem is tension.
The "Glute Sandwich"
The side of your hip is covered by two major muscles: the Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus. These muscles stabilize your pelvis when you walk.
Over time, these muscles develop dense adhesions (scar tissue) from overuse. They become hard, tight, and fibrous instead of soft and squishy.
When you lie on your side, you are sandwiching these hard muscles between your mattress and your hip bone.
Because the tissue is so tight, the pressure from your body weight squeezes the blood out of the muscle (ischemia). After about 20-30 minutes, your nerves start screaming for oxygen. That is the deep ache that wakes you up.
See It In Action: Treating Hip Pain
Watch Dr. Chris Stepien demonstrate how releasing adhesions in the hip muscles eliminates the tension causing night pain.
Expert Care in Idaho
Nickolas Fransen is one of the few advanced ARM practitioners in the country personally trained by Dr. Chris Stepien. You don't need to fly to New Jersey to get this world-class treatment—it's available right here in Boise.
The Fix: Restore the Squish
To fix this, we have to make the muscles soft again.
At Snake River Acupuncture, we use the Adhesion Release Method (ARM) to physically break down the scar tissue in the Gluteus Medius and Minimus.
We apply precise tension to the muscle and move your hip through a specific range of motion. You will feel a "good hurt" or a stretching sensation as the adhesion releases.
Once the adhesion is gone:
- The muscle becomes soft and pliable.
- Blood flow is restored, even when you lie on it.
- The pressure on the bursa disappears (so the bursitis heals naturally).
- You sleep through the night.