A lot of this sounds familiar. After 2 years of chronic hip pain I recently had an MRI that showed torn right side labrum (practically no symptoms), and major tendonosys where the gluteus minimus and the gluteus medius attach to the hip bone. Initially I self-diagnosed with piriformis problems since I had trouble with that in the past, and the general area fit.
Anyhow, I'm currently in my 3rd round of PT this year. In order to avoid the pain in the hip my gait got thrown out of whack, so did by balance, and my 7yo replacement knee started to hurt.
Things are VERY slowly improving. I had a cortisone shot a year ago into the piriformis muscle, which helped for a while. Current ortho says probably enough of the steroids accidentally ended up in the gluteii, thus the temporary relief.
I was also told about a surgical repair option, with a minimum recovery time of 9 months.
Not happening. I'm scheduled for a PRP procedure with a decent chance that this in combination with ongoing PT and exercises will bring lasting relief.
Because of past (and isolated, one-time thing) aFib I'm on aspirin and so very limited regarding pain relievers. The only thing that works for me is Aleve, and I've been able to limit those to 4 this year (one of them after eyelid surgery, the others after long travel days in planes and cars).
At least I'm past the point now where I need to dig my knuckles into my butt and clench my teeth in order to have a bowel movement. That is absolutely no fun!!!