Hip pain & disorders are a common complaint that can be caused by a variety of problems. Precise location of your hip pain can give more information about the underlying cause. The hip joint on its own tends to result in pain on the inside of your hip or groin area. Pain on the outside, upper thigh or outer buttock is usually caused by ailments/problems with the muscles, ligaments, tendons and soft tissues surrounding the hip joint. Hip pain can also be caused by diseases and conditions in other areas of your body, i.e. the lower back. The first thing is to identify where the pain is coming from. The most important distinguishing factor is to find out if the hip is the cause of the pain. When hip pain comes from muscles, tendons, or ligament injuries, it typically come from overuse or Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). This comes from overusing the hip muscles in the body i.e. iliopsoas tendinitis. This can come from tendon and ligament irritations, which typically are involved in snapping hip syndrome. It can come from inside the joint that is more characteristic of hip osteoarthritis. Each of these types of pain present themselves in slightly different ways, which is then the most important part in diagnosing what the cause is.