Chronic hip pain

A 55 year old woman presented to her general practitioner with a six month history of pain over the lateral aspect of her left hip in the trochanteric region. She described the pain as “a niggling pain that seems to be progressively getting worse.” The pain was exacerbated on weight bearing and by activity, but did not prevent her from being active. The pain woke her at night. She had a medical history of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, essential hypertension, and early stage breast cancer. Her breast cancer was diagnosed and treated eight years ago, and she had since been discharged from follow-up. Her only regular medication was omeprazole. She lived at home with her husband and worked as a teaching assistant. On examination, she had a marked antalgic gait. She had a good range of pain-free movement but had discomfort over the lateral aspect of the left hip during the extremes of rotation. A radiograph of the pelvis was performed (fig 1).