What Is Causing Your Thigh Pain, and What Should You Do About It? (2024)

Thigh pain can cause you to have difficulty walking, running, or climbing stairs. Sometimes inner thigh pain or upper thigh pain can occur after trauma or an injury. Other times, it may begin without an obvious reason.

This article discusses the common causes of thigh pain, along with potential treatments. It also describes signs and symptoms that indicate when you should see a healthcare provider.

In rare cases, thigh pain can be a sign of a life-threatening condition.

Causes of Thigh Pain

There are many different causes of thigh pain—some obvious and others not so much. Understanding your thigh pain and what may be causing it is the first step to properly treating your condition.

Common causes of thigh pain include:

Pinched Spinal Nerve

Lumbar (low back) arthritis and herniated lumbar discs may pinch on the nerves that exit your spinal column and travel down your thigh, resulting in thigh pain.

Lumbar arthritis occurs when wear and tear to the low back cause the loss of cartilage and the formation of bone spurs (osteophytes). Herniated discs occur when the rubbery cushions between spinal bones (vertebrae) bulge out.

Pinched nerves typically cause thigh pain that changes depending on your spine's position.

Symptoms of a pinched nerve include:

• Pain in the front or back of your thigh
• Numbness or tingling in your thigh
• Weakness in your thigh muscles
• Difficulty sitting or rising from sitting
  

Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of thecanal in the middle of the spine that houses the spinal cord. Stenosis, which means "narrowing," places pressure on spinal nerve roots that service muscles, causing nerve pain. The lumbar spine is most commonly affected.

Spinal stenosis is considered a degenerative condition because it worsens over time. Most people with spinal stenosis are over the age of 40.

Symptoms of spinal stenosis include:

• Pain in both thighs and legs
• Feelings of numbness or heaviness in your thighs
• Pain that worsens with standing and walking and is relieved with sitting

The pain from spinal stenosis is typically felt in both legs at the same time.

Trauma

Any sort of traumatic blow to your thigh can be painful, as there are many nerves running down your thigh. Symptoms from a blow to the thigh may include pain in the front or back of your thigh that worsens with activity. You may also have bruising.

Bruising that does not improve within a few days should be evaluated by a healthcare provider to ensure no other injuries, like a bone fracture or dislocated hip, have occurred.

Quadriceps or Hamstring Tendonitis

The overuse or repeated stress on your thigh muscles may cause inflammation of your tendons (the fibrous connective tissue that attaches muscles to bone). This condition is known as tendonitis.

This may involve the tendons of the front thigh muscles (quadriceps) which attach to the knee (patella), shin bone (tibia), hip socket (acetabulum), and hip bone (ilium 404).

Or, it may involve the tendons of the back thigh muscles (hamstrings) which attach to the sitz bones (ischial tuberosity), calf bone (fibula), and tibia.

Symptoms of quad or hamstring tendonitis include:

• Pain in the front or back of your thigh, usually near your knee or hip
• Difficulty walking or climbing stairs due to pain
• A feeling of weak muscles in the front or back of your thigh

Symptoms usually last for four to six weeks and slowly get better with gentle exercises such as walking, leg raises, wall squats, and the Nordic hamstring stretch.

Iliotibial Band Friction Syndrome

Your iliotibial band (IT band) is a thick band of tissue that runs down the outside of your thigh, extending from the hip bones to the top of the shinbone. Sometimes the IT band can become irritated due to overuse or repeated stress (such as from long-distance running). This can lead to a condition known as iliotibial band friction syndrome (ITBS).

Symptoms of ITBS include:

• Pain on the outside part of your thigh near your hip or knee
• A feeling of tightness near your hip or knee
• Difficulty walking or running

The pain from ITBS usually gets worse with increased activity and better with rest. Many people benefit from physical therapy to learn stretches and strengthening exercises for ITBS.

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

A blood clot (thrombus) in your thigh or calf can lead to a potentially life-threatening condition called deep vein thrombosis (DVT). DVT often occurs with prolonged sitting (such as on a long-distance flight), trapping blood at a junction of a vein and allowing it to clot.

The clot can then break off, travel to a lung, and cause a blockage of a pulmonary artery, causing a pulmonary embolism (PE). PE can damage the lungs and place strain on the heart, causing heart failure. Around 33% of people die before the condition is diagnosed and treated.

Symptoms of DVT include:

• Throbbing pain in one leg when walking or standing up
• Swelling in one leg
• Warm skin around the painful area
• Red or darkened skin around the painful area

When to See a Healthcare Provider

Many people with thigh pain are able to treat it on their own, while others need immediate medical attention. Signs and symptoms that warrant a visit to a healthcare provider include:

• Severe pain that limits your ability to walk, navigate stairs, or function normally
• Thigh pain that is severe accompanied by high fever, chills, and spreading redness
• Thigh pain with redness, swelling, and warmth of your skin
• Any injury that causes yourthigh to look deformed

Most cases of thigh pain can be diagnosed by a healthcare provider. Pain caused by nerve compression may require a neurologist to get an accurate diagnosis.

Diagnosis of Thigh Pain

When trying to pinpoint the cause of your high pain, a healthcare provider will likely ask about the nature of your pain, how it started, and how it changes, such as:

• Is the pain constant, or does it come and go?
• Does the pain change with certain movements or positions?
• How long has your pain been bothering you?
• Did the pain begin after an accident or no apparent reason for it?
• How would you describe the pain? Burning? Shooting? Dull? Aching? Generalized? Localized?

The healthcare provider may palpate (examine by touch) your thigh and check the surrounding joints and muscles. They will likely test your strength and watch you walk and move about. Various tests may be done to diagnose your thigh pain.

How Is Thigh Pain Treated?

Treatment for your thigh pain is based on your diagnosis. In some cases, you will be able to treat your thigh pain at home. Other types of pain will require treatment by a healthcare provider.

Home Remedies

Applying ice when a sudden thigh injury first occurs can help bring down inflammation and decrease pain. Place ice or an ice pack in a thin towel and apply it for 10 to 20 minutes several times a day. Never apply it directly against your skin, as this can cause frost burn.

Applying heat may be helpful after visible signs of inflammation (like redness or swelling) go away or for chronic conditions involving stiff muscles or joints. Heat can help relax tense muscles and increase blood flow to promote healing.

Heat can be applied for 10 minutes to 15 minutes at a time. You can try a heating pad, an over-the-counter heat wrap, or a warm bath. Remove heat if it causes discomfort to avoid burning your skin.

Exercise

Exercise can help ease thigh pain involving your muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, and nerves. This is known as your musculoskeletal system. The aim is to strengthen muscles to better support joints and spine, improve joint flexibility and range of motion, and stabilize the lower back and pelvis to improve mobility.

A physical therapist can help determine the best stretches for your thigh pain.

Exercises may include:

• Hip flexor stretch involving the front of your thighs
• Hamstring stretches involving the back of the thighs
• Abductor stretch involving the outer thighs
• Adductor stretch involving the inner thighs
  

Medications

A healthcare provider may prescribe medication if the cause of your pain is an inflammatory condition such as tendonitis, a non-inflammatory condition like lumbar spine arthritis, or a nerve-related condition like a pinched nerve.

The drugs used may include:

• Tylenol (acetaminophen)
• Over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Advil (ibuprofen) and Aleve (naproxen)
• Prescription NSAIDs like Celebrex (celecoxib) or Voltaren (diclofenac)
• Antidepressantslike Elavil (amitriptyline) and Cymbalta (duloxetine) for chronic pain
• Corticosteroids (steroids) like oral prednisone or injectable Celestone (betamethasone)

Physical Therapy

If your pain is caused by a pinched spinal nerve, you may benefit from working with a physical therapist or chiropractor. These healthcare professionals can teach you what to do to get pressure off the pinched nerve and restore normal mobility.

Physical therapy can also help you recover from an injury or medical procedure, such as surgery.

Physical therapy modalities may include:

• Massage therapy: Relieves muscle tension and promote circulation
• Therapeutic ultrasound: Produces deep heat to stimulate healing
• Thermotherapy: Uses heat to improve circulation
• Cryotherapy: Uses cold to reduce pain
• Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT): Employs high-energy pulses to stimulate healing
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): Delivers mild electrical impulses to ease pain

Surgery

Pain originating from spinal compression, herniated discs, spinal arthritis, or injuries like tendon tears may require surgery if the pain cannot be controlled by conservative means.

Examples include:

• Laminectomy: Removes a flat plate of bone to create more space in the spinal canal
• Discectomy: Removes the injured part of a herniated disc to ease pain
• Spinal fusion: Joins vertebrae with metal screws and rods to stabilize the spine
• Tendon repair surgery: Often involves a tendon graft from another part of the body

Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Some people benefit from acupuncture to relieve their thigh pain. According to this ancient Chinese practice, all parts of the body are aligned with specific channels (meridians) that facilitate the flow of energy (Qi) and blood. Acupuncture is meant to "clear" blockages in these channels.

During a session, a licensed acupuncturist will determine the affected meridian causing thigh pain. Then, they will place very thin needles into the top layer of your skin at specific points on the body to restore healthy flow once again.

Summary

Any thigh injury can be especially painful and make it difficult to move about your day. Treatment depends on the cause of your pain but may include applying heat or ice, using pain relievers, or going to physical therapy.

Since thigh pain that begins abruptly is a potential symptom of a blood clot, see a healthcare provider immediately if the pain starts suddenly or comes with other unusual symptoms.