Expert Sports Injury
Care in San Diego

If the stairs leave your hip burning by the time you reach the top, or you've started favoring one leg, you may be dealing with a gluteus tendon tear. A lot of people, including some doctors, write off this kind of lateral hip pain as bursitis or just another part of getting older. The actual problem is often something different, but gluteus medius tears actually affect up to 25% of late-middle-aged women and roughly 10% of middle-aged men, and these injuries are so commonly missed that surgeons sometimes find them by accident during unrelated hip procedures. 

While it may not sound like an injury that needs attention, leaving a gluteus tendon tear unaddressed can chip away at your strength, your sleep, and your ability to stay active for years. 

Read on to learn what causes gluteus tendon tears, what conservative treatments help most people, and when surgical repair with the best orthopedic surgeon in San Diego is the right next step.

What is a Gluteus Tendon Tear? 

The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus are two muscles that sit on the outer side of your hip. They run from your pelvis down to the top of your thigh bone, attaching at a bony bump called the greater trochanter. The tough cord of tissue that connects these muscles to the bone is the tendon. Every time you take a step, climb a curb, or stand on one leg to pull on your pants, these tendons hold your pelvis steady so you don't tip over. 

When part of the tendon pulls away from the bone or splits along its fibers, doctors call it a tear. Tears come in two main forms: 

• A partial-thickness tear involves damaged fibers with the rest of the tendon still attached, and this is the most common type. 
• A full-thickness tear means the tendon has fully separated from the bone, which causes much more weakness. 

Some specialists sometimes call gluteus tears the rotator cuff of the hip because the injury pattern looks almost identical to a torn rotator cuff in the shoulder, both in how it happens and how it gets repaired.

What Causes a Gluteus Tendon Tear?

Most gluteus tendon tears happen after a slow buildup of straining and minor injuries. Over the years, the tendon goes through small bouts of stress and incomplete healing until the fibers start to fray. While a fall or a quick twist during a run can finish the job, the tendon is usually already weakened long before that day. 

Who is at Risk for a Gluteus Tendon Tear?

Women going through or past menopause face a higher risk because lower estrogen levels make tendon tissue less resilient. Runners, dancers, hikers, and people who spend long hours on their feet also see more of these tears because the abductor tendons take a beating with every stride. 

Other risk factors include hip muscle weakness, a history of trochanteric bursitis, repeated cortisone injections into the area, and inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. 

The best hip gluteus repair surgeon in San Diego treats active adults in their 40s, 50s, and 60s with this injury the most, though it can happen at any age when the right mix of stress and tissue weakness lines up.

Symptoms of a Torn Gluteus Tendon

The signature symptom is pain on the outside of the hip, right over that bony bump on the side of your thigh. The pain often gets worse at night when you lie on the affected side, which can wreck your sleep for weeks at a time. Other symptoms include pain when climbing stairs, getting out of a low chair, walking longer distances, or balancing on one foot to pull on a sock can all bring on a flare. Weakness is another big clue. If you stand on the painful leg by itself and feel like you might lose your balance, it means the abductors may not be doing their job. 

Pain from a torn gluteus tendon ranges from a dull ache that nags you all day to sudden, sharp jolts with certain movements. Early symptoms often feel mild enough to brush aside, which is exactly how these tears get worse over time.

Non-Surgical Treatment Options for a Torn Gluteus Tendon

For partial tears caught early, surgery is rarely the first step. Effective conservative treatments include: 

• A focused physical therapy program that works on strengthening the abductors, fixing the way you walk, and easing pressure on the tendon through better movement patterns
• Anti-inflammatory medications that can help with day-to-day pain
• Modifying activities, such as cutting back on long runs or skipping the stair workout for a while, gives the tendon room to settle down
• Platelet-rich plasma injections (PRP), or other orthobiologics, can use growth factors from your own blood to encourage healing in the tendon
• Cortisone injections for short-term pain relief

When Surgical Repair of a Torn Gluteus Tendon is the Best Treatment Option

Surgery for gluteus tendon repair is usually recommended when conservative care has been given a fair shot and the pain or weakness is still getting in the way of daily life. The best hip surgeon in San Diego typically recommends at least three to six months of physical therapy and other non-surgical options before talking about an operation, although full-thickness tears, large tears, or tears that come with major abductor weakness are more likely to need repair from the start because they rarely heal on their own. 

Two main surgical approaches exist: 

• Hip arthroscopic repair uses small incisions and a camera
• Open hip repair uses a larger incision and is often the better choice for older or more complicated tears

In both cases, the best orthopedic surgeon in San Diego uses small anchors to stitch the tendon back onto the bone. For chronic cases where the tendon has pulled too far back to reattach, a procedure called a gluteus maximus transfer can rebuild abductor function. 

How Long Does Recovery From Hip Surgery Take?

Recovery from hip surgery takes patience. Most people walk with crutches and avoid bearing weight on the leg for about six weeks, start physical therapy soon after surgery, and return to full activity somewhere between six and nine months out. 

Finding the Best Orthopedic Surgeon in San Diego for Hip Injuries

Dr. Samagh and our team focus on the hip injuries that get missed by general providers, including gluteus tendon tears that have been hiding under another label for months or even years. We use detailed imaging to figure out exactly what's torn, how badly, and what's still working. From there, we build a treatment plan that matches the size of the problem. For some patients, that means a structured non-surgical approach with physical therapy and regenerative options like PRP. For others, it means minimally invasive arthroscopic repair. 

Ready to get effective relief from hip pain with help from the best hip surgeon in San Diego?