Hip Tendinopathy

See a sports medicine orthopedist or osteopath instead of a surgeon if you have that option, many larger orthopedic practices do. They focus on function and rehabilitation, with surgery as a last resort.
Keep in mind that tendon and muscle injuries can heal VERY slowly. I have been in PT for tendinopathy in my shoulder for 3 months and am finally seeing progress. Also healing from "massive" rotator cuff repair in the other arm - approaching normal after 10 months, with a new setback after tendon repair on the elbow on that side.
I am learning to be kinder to my body. Hard to do after 60+ years of doing whatever I wanted!

I have pretty much the same things as you do. I have steroid injection directly into my hip bursa twice, except the shots were in different bursas. The second time was in the largest of the 3 and did help some, but relief from the shots doesn’t last very long because it isn’t a cure, unfortunately.
An orthopedic surgeon offered PRP to me, and I finally decided to try it since life continues to get very small. When I saw him the day of the procedure, he asked if I wanted it in my hip. At the time, the gluteal medius was badly inflamed and I thought/hoped it would be healed and relieve much of the other pain, too. Well, it has helped that area, but the hip area in various places can be killer pain. At night I need to use my wheeled walker to go to the restroom because that leg won’t hold my weight very well. During the day with some pain relievers in my system, it’s more tolerable, but still keeps me from doing most things. I see that rheumatologist again soon and will discuss what he thinks the next steps should be. If more PRP, he’ll have to tell me which tendon has the worst injury because it’s nearly impossible to tell. One last thing. I am on an estrogen patch that I wear for a week at a time, mostly to ward off hot flashes (I’m 79…shouldn’t that all be over by now?!?). I don’t think it makes a difference at all in the tendon injury case. I also have psoriatic arthritis, and wonder if it is somehow related.

After repetitive bending and lifting when doing a house renovation I have injured my piriformis, hamstrings and heaven knows what else. I have been in PT for a month with minimal improvement and I am beginning to think it is a tendon and not a muscle injury, both hips. How do you get a diagnosis? Should I see an orthopedic doctor rather than my GP? They have run all the inflammatory labs and rheumatology labs, all coming back normal.

A month in physio isn't long. I'd give it a little more time, Sarah, 2 more months. Then if it's not better, see an ortho guy.

After repetitive bending and lifting when doing a house renovation I have injured my piriformis, hamstrings and heaven knows what else. I have been in PT for a month with minimal improvement and I am beginning to think it is a tendon and not a muscle injury, both hips. How do you get a diagnosis? Should I see an orthopedic doctor rather than my GP? They have run all the inflammatory labs and rheumatology labs, all coming back normal.

I initially went to a couple of orthopedic surgeons, who correctly diagnosed the tendenopathy but offered little more than a referral to PT. When it became clear that PT wasn’t going to be the cure I sought out a specialist in sports medicine at a teaching hospital. They haven’t provided a magic cure, but we are trying PRP injections nd there has been some improvement. As others have pointed out, it’s a painfully slow healing.

It is a slow process to heal! I set myself back July 4th weekend when I climbed in and out multiple times into our son in law’s big pick up truck. It was a dumb thing to do. The pain after that weekend was surprising! Like I said…so dumb!

We all do that stuff. I did something similar after my second THR. Self-inflicted!

After repetitive bending and lifting when doing a house renovation I have injured my piriformis, hamstrings and heaven knows what else. I have been in PT for a month with minimal improvement and I am beginning to think it is a tendon and not a muscle injury, both hips. How do you get a diagnosis? Should I see an orthopedic doctor rather than my GP? They have run all the inflammatory labs and rheumatology labs, all coming back normal.