Coming: 

Rotator Cuff of the Hip/ Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS)

We often have to deal with patients who indicate pain on or around the trochanter major. The therapist sometimes dismisses the complaints as trochanter major syndrome, without knowing exactly what the actual cause is. The ‘trochanter major pain syndrome’ has then become a reservoir of complaints and causes; is it a bursa, a tendon; or maybe it’s the tendon plate?

Perhaps you note in your file: ‘non-specific lateral hip pain’; the pain is present – you believe your patient – but there is possibly no anatomical cause…Or you think that the cause does not matter, because your treatment remains the same. In short, you prepare a work diagnosis and get to work. That is a pragmatic choice and perhaps the right one.

Is it sensible to know exactly which anatomical structure is responsible for the complaints of your client, or can we do without this knowledge? With ultrasound, in many cases it is possible to accurately determine which structure causes the pain, which means that a more specific diagnosis is possible. This opens the door for multiple treatment options for these sometimes unexplained complaints.

 Keywords: M. gluteus medius, M. gluteus minimus, bursitis, bursa, tractus iliotibialis, trochanter major, cortex, ultrasound, pain; rotator cuff, tendinopathy