Hi Mike @domiha, My PMR was diagnosed by a Mayo Rochester rheumatologist. My primary care doctor gave me a referral. I had a swollen knee and right ankle which was diagnosed as gout along with the PMR. I had extreme pain in my shoulder joints, arms, hips and legs and could barely walk due to my own ignorance of waiting until the symptoms got really bad before going to the doctor and my wife pushed me in a wheelchair to my appointment. I saw several doctors during my rheumatology appointment. The first appointment drained some fluid from my under my kneecap and gave me a steroid shot in the knee. Then I met with the rheumy who gave me a physical exam and went over all of my symptoms before diagnosing me with PMR. I had also had blood labs drawn before the appointment which added in the diagnosis. I finished the morning appointments just before lunch and the doctor had me pick up a prednisone prescription from the pharmacy and take 20 mg right away. By the time my afternoon appointment with him around 2:30pm came around I was feeling pretty good and able to walk by myself again. It took me 3-1/2 years to taper off of the prednisone for my first time with PMR.

A few years ago I had some really bad pain in my right hip and got a referral to Mayo Ortho at Rochester. They gave me a guided steroid shot in the hip which relieved the pain and also signed me up for some PT which was pretty helpful once the pain was gone. I still do the exercises but haven't been as faithful doing them as I should. If it's your hips only, if it were me and they feel much better after I'm up and walking around, I would see if you can get some PT that would help with the hip. You can also try some yourself to see if they make a difference for you. My favorite PT guys - Bob & Brad have hip pain relief program that you can print out the exercises and watch videos that explain the problem and the exercises to help - https://www.bobandbrad.com/health-programs/hip-pain-relief-program.