Experiencing burning, inflammatory, aching pain in left hip. i sleep on my left side on a firm mattress. walk a couple of miles a day. 18 months out lumbar fusion. bursitis or referred back pain?

Hip pain: If it is tender or painful to lie on its trochanteric bursitis a steriod injection is safe and effective referred spine pain is not tender its a pain you can't find with your fingers, walking with pace and a limp can be a cause of it ice and rest can cure.

Bursitis: Consider trochanteric bursitis.A steroid injection in the inflamed bursa might help.See ortho or your pcp for a diagnosis.

Trocanteric bursitis: Is one cause. Compression of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve at the hip is another. If you are slim, sleeping on a firm mattress on your side can irritate both. I can't sleep on a hard mattress without the same problem.

Depends on the fol--: Lowing factors: 1: has your back pain completely resolved from the fusion? 2: any pain radiating beyond the hip/thigh area? 3: any local tenderness or pain, which might prevent you from lying on left? 4: any urinary or bowel symptoms? If all are negative except #3, then it sounds like bursitis. Otherwise it might be some residual discomfort from the back, since you are able to walk a lot.

Radiologist point of view: The symptoms you describe may need to be further workup with hip x-rays and possibly a hip mri. If those are negative and conservative therapy is failing then would consider lumbar spine mri.

Tenderness: If you have significant (and asymmetric when compared to the opposite side) tenderness over the bursa, then likely bursitis. Referred pain does not cause tenderness. Gluteal tendonopathy often co-exists with bursitis. Consider a steroid injection into the bursa region, which can be diagnostic and therapeutic.

Iliotibial band?: I originally thought of trochanteric bursitis, but if this is the case, you wouldn't be able to sleep on that left side at night. The confusion comes with the reference to "hip". Lots of patients mean the outside hip, but others mean in the buttock behind the joint, while most physicians that treat hip pain think about the groin area first. Itb? An orthopedist or physiatrist can help here.