A stiff hip is most often caused by hip osteoarthritis, which reduces rotation and makes socks, shoes and getting out of a car harder. In younger adults, femoroacetabular impingement can limit motion. Inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis causes long morning stiffness. Tight muscles and recovery from injury or surgery are other common causes.
Hip stiffness often creeps up so slowly that people adjust without noticing. They sit on the edge of the bed to put on socks, ask a spouse to tie a shoe or give up the low sports car. Stiffness is often the earliest sign of a hip problem, well before pain becomes severe. Finding the cause early gives you more options to keep the hip moving.
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Stride, MD, board-certified orthopedic surgeonAs the cartilage wears, the joint capsule thickens and bone spurs form around the ball and socket. Rotation, especially turning the leg inward, is usually the first motion lost. Stiffness is typically worst in the morning and after sitting, and loosens within about 30 minutes of moving.
The clue: Gradual difficulty with socks, shoes and toenails, with stiffness after sitting, is the classic pattern.
Extra bone on the ball or the socket rim blocks full motion, especially bending and turning the leg inward. The hip feels tight rather than painful at first. Over time the limited motion can lead to labral tears and cartilage damage.
The clue: A hard stop with a pinch when bending the hip past 90 degrees, in a younger adult, suggests impingement.
Conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis inflame the joint lining. They often affect more than one joint and may involve the lower back. Early diagnosis and treatment with a rheumatologist protect the joint.
The clue: Morning stiffness lasting more than an hour that improves with exercise suggests inflammation rather than wear.
Long hours of sitting shorten the hip flexors and stiffen the muscles around the hip. The joint itself is healthy. This type of stiffness improves fairly quickly with stretching and activity.
The clue: Tightness at the front of the hip when standing up straight after long sitting, with full rotation on exam, points to the muscles.
Reduced blood flow causes part of the ball of the hip to weaken and, in later stages, collapse. It may start with groin pain and progress to stiffness. Early stages may only be visible on MRI.
The clue: New groin pain and stiffness in someone with steroid or heavy alcohol use calls for an MRI.
Dr. Stride measures hip motion in every direction and compares it to the other side, with special attention to internal rotation, which is usually lost first in arthritis. He notes whether motion stops with a hard bony block, which suggests impingement or spurs, or a softer muscular end. He watches you walk, stand from a chair and step up, and checks the lower back and knee because both affect how the hip moves. He also asks how long morning stiffness lasts and whether other joints are involved, to screen for inflammatory arthritis. Standing X-rays show joint space, bone spurs and the shape of the ball and socket. Blood tests or an MRI are added when inflammation or osteonecrosis is a concern.
“Bring your outside X-rays and MRI. I’ll go through them with you, but how your hip moves on the exam table tells me just as much as the pictures.”
Dr. Stride, MD
A structured program of hip range-of-motion exercises and strengthening, often over 6 to 12 weeks, restores some lost motion and makes daily tasks easier.
Low-impact exercise like cycling, swimming and walking keeps the joint moving. Losing even a modest amount of weight reduces the load on an arthritic hip.
Anti-inflammatory medicine before activity can ease stiffness enough to exercise, when your health allows. Inflammatory arthritis is managed together with a rheumatologist.
An image-guided cortisone injection into the joint can calm an arthritis flare for weeks to months and make therapy more productive.
In younger adults with impingement and healthy cartilage, reshaping the bone arthroscopically can restore motion and protect the joint.
When arthritis has worn the joint and stiffness and pain limit daily life, a hip replacement restores motion in most patients.
Morning hip stiffness that eases within about 30 minutes is typical of osteoarthritis. Stiffness that lasts more than an hour and improves with exercise suggests inflammatory arthritis. Both deserve an exam and X-rays.
Stretching helps when tight muscles are the cause and can improve comfort in arthritis. When bone spurs or impingement physically block motion, stretching has limits. An exam shows whether the stop is muscle or bone.
Not necessarily. Many people with stiff, arthritic hips do well for years with exercise, weight control and occasional injections. A replacement is considered when pain and stiffness limit daily life despite those measures.
Putting on socks requires bending and rotating the hip at the same time, which are the first motions lost in arthritis. That is why many patients notice sock and shoe trouble before significant pain.
Physical therapy helps many types of hip pain, including arthritis, gluteal tendinopathy, hip impingement and many labral tears.
Read more →InjectionsA cortisone hip injection places a corticosteroid and numbing medicine directly into the hip joint, guided by ultrasound or X-ray.
Read more →ReplacementTotal hip replacement replaces the worn ball and socket of an arthritic hip with a metal, ceramic and medical-grade plastic implant.
Read more →PreservationFAI surgery is an arthroscopic procedure that reshapes extra bone on the ball (cam) or rim of the socket (pincer) so the hip stops pinching when it bends and rotates.
Read more →Front of hip and groin pain usually comes from inside the hip joint itself.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · Outside of hipPain on the outside of the hip is most often greater trochanteric pain syndrome, an irritation of the gluteus medius and minimus tendons and the bursa over the bony point of the hip.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · Back of hipPain in the back of the hip and buttock most often comes from the lower back, such as a pinched nerve or sciatica, or from the sacroiliac joint.
Causes & treatment →Hip pain · symptomHip joint pain is usually felt in the groin or front of the thigh and flares with putting on socks or getting out of a car.
Causes & treatment →
Trouble lifting your leg into a car usually means the hip cannot bend far enough or the muscles that lift the thigh are painful or weak.
Yes, long hours of sitting can aggravate hip pain, especially with impingement, labral tears or gluteal tendon problems.
Hip arthritis usually feels like a deep ache in the groin or front of the thigh, with stiffness after sitting and first thing in the morning.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Stride, MD against current guidance from these sources. Last reviewed October 2026. How we write and review content
