Why Your Hips and Shoulders Hurt Together (And How to Fix It)

It is frustrating when your body feels like a house of cards—one thing slips, and the whole structure wobbles. If you are experiencing **hip and shoulder pain** simultaneously, you aren't alone, and it likely isn't a coincidence. Whether it is a dull ache, sharp shooting pain, or stiffness, these two major ball-and-socket joints are mechanically linked in ways most people don't realize.

Many patients treat the shoulder and the hip as separate islands. They ice the shoulder and stretch the hip, never realizing the root cause lies in the connection between them. To fix the pain, we have to look at the body as a single, functional unit.

Key Takeaways

• The Kinetic Chain: Your body operates on cross-body slings (e.g., left hip connects to right shoulder). Dysfunction in one often causes pain in the other.
• Sleeping Position: Side sleeping on an unsupportive mattress is a leading cause of shoulder and hip pain on same side.
• Systemic Inflammation: Bilateral pain (both sides hurting) can indicate inflammatory conditions like Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR).
• Spinal Alignment: Issues in the lumbar spine can refer pain to the hip, while cervical issues refer to the shoulder, creating a sensation of neck and hip pain connected via the spine.

The Kinetic Chain: The Hip and Shoulder Pain Connection

The most overlooked cause of joint pain in the shoulder and hip is the "Diagonal Sling" system. Anatomically, your Latissimus Dorsi (the large back muscle connecting to the shoulder) connects directly to the opposite glute via the thoracolumbar fascia.

If you have left hip right shoulder pain (or vice versa), this cross-body sling is likely the culprit. If your right glute is weak or your right hip is stiff, your left shoulder has to work overtime to stabilize your torso during walking or lifting. Over time, this compensation pattern leads to hips and shoulders ache.

Same-Side Pain: Why Does My Right Side Hurt?

When you experience shoulder and hip pain on right side (or left), the cause is usually structural or habitual rather than cross-body mechanics.

The "Side Sleeper" Syndrome

If you wake up with sore hips and shoulders, check your mattress. Sleeping on one side without a pillow between your knees collapses the top hip and jams the bottom shoulder into the socket. This creates impingement in the shoulder and bursitis in the hip trochanter.

The Latissimus Dorsi Tightness

The Lat muscle attaches to the pelvic crest (hip) and the humerus (shoulder). If your Lat is chronically tight on the right side, it pulls the shoulder and hip joint closer together, compressing the space in your torso. This often manifests as pain from shoulder blade to hip.

Systemic Causes: When It's Not Just Mechanics

If you are experiencing bilateral shoulder and hip pain (pain on both sides at once) or general joint pain in hips and shoulders, we have to look at inflammation. Mechanical injuries are usually asymmetrical. Systemic issues are usually symmetrical.

Conditions like Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) specifically target the shoulder and pelvic girdles. If you have stiffness in the morning lasting more than 45 minutes and sore hips and shoulder joints, this requires blood work, not just a foam roller.

The Neck and Spine Factor

Can hip pain cause neck pain? Absolutely. The spine is a totem pole. If the base (hips) is tilted, the top (neck) must tilt the opposite way to keep your eyes level with the horizon. This is why we often see neck back and hip pain grouped together.

Furthermore, nerve compression can be tricky. Pain from neck to hip right side can be a result of nerve irritation that travels down the spinal erectors, making it feel like a muscular issue when it is actually neurological.

Anatomy 101: Hip vs Shoulder Joint

To rehab this, you must understand the difference. In contrast to the shoulder joint the hip joint is designed for stability. It is a deep socket. The shoulder is a shallow socket designed for mobility.

Why does this matter? If your hips lose their mobility (becoming too stiff), your shoulders often try to compensate by becoming too mobile and unstable, leading to rotator cuff issues. Often, to fix the shoulder, you must first mobilize the hip.

My Personal Experience with Hip and Shoulder Pain

I spent six months chasing a nagging pain in my left anterior deltoid. I treated it like a localized injury—band pull-aparts, rotator cuff rotations, and enough ice to freeze a pond. Nothing worked. The pain would subside for an hour and then return the moment I picked up a grocery bag.

It wasn't until I saw a movement specialist that I realized the issue was actually my right hip. I had an old ankle sprain that caused my right hip to lock up every time I took a step. Because my right hip wouldn't extend, my torso wasn't rotating correctly, and my left shoulder was violently braking that momentum every time I walked.

The fix didn't involve touching my shoulder. It involved a lacrosse ball dug painfully into my right TFL (Tensor Fasciae Latae) and a lot of glute bridges. The specific, nausea-inducing trigger point release in that hip muscle was the turning point. Once the right hip opened up, the left shoulder pain vanished in about two weeks. It was a humbling lesson in how the body actually works.

Conclusion

Whether you are dealing with pain in knees hips and shoulders or a specific one-sided ache, remember that the site of the pain is rarely the source of the problem. Don't just treat the symptoms. Look at your sleeping habits, check your cross-body movement patterns, and ensure your spine is aligned. Your body is a machine; when the gears grind, you have to find the misalignment, not just grease the noise.

Frequently Asked Questions