Weeks 1–2
Pain
Calm the pain down.
Hands-on techniques calm the irritated joint or bursa and take the edge off inflammation, starting your very first visit.
What We Treat
Hip pain treatment in Lodi.
The stiffness when you stand up from the couch. The twinge that decides whether today’s a good day. It’s fixable, and it starts with a cause-first evaluation, not a guess.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- That pinch in the front of your hip every time you get out of the car
- Struggling to put on socks or shoes without pain grabbing your hip
- Limping slightly for the first few steps after standing up from a chair
- A deep ache on the side of your hip that flares up after a long walk
- Trouble finding a comfortable side to sleep on anymore
- Stairs that used to be nothing now make you wince going up
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
Hip pain is a symptom. Something causes it.
Your hip doesn’t act up for no reason. It’s usually a mix of a few culprits: a strained hip flexor, irritation in the labrum lining the joint, bursitis on the outside of the hip, early joint wear such as osteoarthritis, or weak glutes that quietly shift load onto the joint they’re supposed to protect.
None of that sorts itself out with a heating pad. It takes a real, cause-first evaluation to tell a strained muscle from a joint that’s losing cartilage from one that’s simply overloaded by weak hips. Find the real cause, and the fix gets obvious.
The Honest Truth
Waiting on a hip doesn’t make it wait on you.
If you keep waiting
- Your knee and low back start picking up the slack, and start hurting too
- The distance you can comfortably walk keeps shrinking
- The joint stiffens further, limiting how you move even when it isn’t actively hurting
If you start this week
- You know the actual cause by the end of visit one
- Hands-on relief starts before you leave the building
- You get a plan with an endpoint: a real one, not an open tab of visits
Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built for your hip.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for a hip.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Get your motion back.
Targeted mobility work restores motion in a hip that’s been quietly guarding itself.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Make it strong enough to trust.
Progressive glute and hip strengthening builds the stability the joint was missing in the first place.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Return better than before.
Walking, stairs, and getting up from a chair get tested under real load before you’re cleared to go all-in: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.
Very friendly and very interested in your needs. Nonetheless reassuring that everything is going well and will be fine.
Shared by Rosa C. · Excel Physical Therapy patient
Nervous about what physical therapy would involve
Reassured every step of the way that things were going well
Excel Physical Therapy patient
★★★★★ Google review
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for hip pain.
Usually not, and it’s rarely the first step. Most hip pain improves without imaging, and X-rays routinely show joint changes in hips that don’t hurt at all, so a picture alone doesn’t always point to the real cause. We start with a hands-on evaluation to find what’s actually driving your symptoms, and if imaging ever becomes genuinely necessary, we’ll help you get it. You don’t have to wait on a scan to start feeling better.
Yes, in most cases movement helps more than rest does. Hurt doesn’t always mean harm, total rest tends to make a hip stiffer and weaker, which sets up the next flare-up. The key is dosing the right movement for your specific hip, which is exactly what a physical therapist sorts out at your evaluation, then progresses safely as you improve.
Most patients feel meaningful change within 4–6 visits. A full plan for hip pain runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, typically over 8–10 weeks, depending on how long you’ve been dealing with it. Either way, you get a plan with an endpoint: you’ll always know which phase you’re in and what’s left, not an open-ended string of appointments.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
- Hours Mon–Fri, 7:30 AM–6 PM
- (209) 207-0849 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Same-week appointments available
4.9 · 367+ Google reviews
Typical response: under 2 business hours
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time. Most people are on the schedule same week.
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