Dr Chelsea Matthews

Here’s what’s actually happening:

When you rest, the compression on your tendon decreases and the pain quiets down. So you go back to your walk, your run, your workout — and it flares again.

Because rest didn’t build anything. It just bought you a window.

Tendons recover through load.

Specifically, progressive load applied consistently over time.

Too much and you flare. Too little and nothing adapts.

The window in between is where healing actually happens.

Most women with lateral hip pain have never been shown where that window is — because they were told to rest and wait instead.

If you’re stuck in the flare-up cycle, I made a free guide that breaks down exactly how to start loading the tendon correctly so you can get back to running without setting yourself back.

You can get it here 👇🏼

www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

Hip pain at night?

❌You’re not stuck with hip bursitis ❌

There’s 1 million exercises that can help and this is one example.

Want to learn more about how to overcome hip bursitis to get back to running again?

I have a Free Clinical Guide Video - click below to snag it

www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

If you’ve been told to rest your hip and wait it out 👀

Most women I see have been managing “hip bursitis” for months, sometimes years.

They’ve tried ice, the ibuprofen, cortisone shots.

🚨 Here’s what you need to know 🚨

This diagnosis is outdated and incomplete.

Unless your outer hip has swollen to be the size of a golf ball…we’re not dealing with bursitis.

We’re dealing with something else 👀

Lateral hip pain in active women is a tendon problem (specifically of the gluteus medius and minimus tendons).

And tendons don’t heal with rest.

They heal with the right load, applied progressively, over time.

I have a Free Video on How to Heal Hip Tendonitis and get back to running (or whatever type of workout you enjoy)

You can get the guide here 👇🏼

www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

Pain in the outside of your hip? Don’t miss this 👇🏼

Or if you have pain in your hip when you lay on your side at night?

DEFINITELY don’t miss this 👇🏼

😱 Hip tendonitis (or also commonly called hip bursitis) is one of THE most common causes of hip pain for women between 45-65

But sadly soooo many people get bad info about this so 🎶 LET’S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT 🎶

💜 Because you deserve to have hips that feel strong and happy 🙌🏼

1️⃣ EXERCISE WORKS BETTER THAN INJECTIONS OR TOTAL REST

So if you’re being told to try injections or rest BEFORE exercise with this type of pain 👀

🗣️ Repeat after me:

We seek a 2nd opinion

2️⃣ STRETCHING IS NOT THE FIX (for this type of hip pain)

😭 And can in fact make the pain worse

💰 If I had a dollar for the amount of times a woman has asked to have a consultation with me about her hip pain and part of my advice involves telling her to STOP stretching… I would be hiking in Switzerland right now and eating Swiss chocolate and drinking espresso 😉

🧐 Wondering why stretching isn’t helpful?

🤓 that is a nerdy rabbit hole that I will gladly take you down in the comments just ask

3️⃣ INJECTIONS have effects on your hips when used frequently

I’m not saying injections don’t have their place… I’m saying, you deserve to know THIS 👇🏼

🦴 Frequent use of steroid injections to manage hip pain does affect the bone density of your hips

👋🏼 And since it’s my job to look after your hip health, not just now but when you’re in your 80s too…

❗️This means that injections only need to be used when absolutely necessary

🤷🏻‍♀️ Plus, we know that for this type of hip pain they don’t work as well as exercise does.

You deserve to have tools to keep your hips strong and healthy NOW and decades from now.

🦵🏾 If you feel overwhelmed with all the info out there about hip pain and want some help with next steps.

I have a Free Hip Tendonitis Video Training!

👇🏼

www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

Achy hips at night? Want to run? What usually causes this 👇🏼

Your gluteus medius muscle 👀

The tendon of this muscle sits right on the outside surface of your hip, so if this tendon is irritated, the pressure from the mattress is a very common trigger for pain.

Now, if you google this, it’s going to tell you things like be sure to rest, stretch and take anti-inflammatories.

❌But that’s actually not what research shows helps this type of pain best

😬 And those things can actually make pain WORSE not better

🧬 Let’s dive in.

🧬 Research shows that using resistance exercises INSTEAD of rest or endless time off from running fixes this

FASTER

and

BETTER

How to know which exercises will help you?

That’s where a couple of strength tests will narrow things down for you.

If the exercises are too hard - that’s a common reason for flare ups

And if they’re too easy - it’s tough to see meaningful progress.

I have a Free Guide

How to Return to Running and Heal Outer Hip Pain

www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

HERE’S WHAT WILL ⬇️

🗣 Hip tendonitis is THE most common cause of hip pain for runners and hikers over 35

🗣 AND it’s FULL of misinformation.

🧬 Let’s talk about WHY rest and injections don’t fix tendonitis

🚪 So I can stop knocking on these orthopedic doors bc your girl is losing her voice 🤣

🧬 Tendons become painful for 2 reasons…

1️⃣ The tendon is getting worked past it’s current capacity

2️⃣ There are changes in the blood flow and nerve connections of the tendon

So, sure, if you stop doing as much activity that will address one of these two issues and contemporarily improve your pain.

But if you’re hanging out here with me in this corner of the Internet, I’m gonna bet that being less active isn’t what you really want.

Not to mention, that without addressing 2️⃣ - There’s a really good chance that once you start pushing it in your workouts again that pain comes back.

👋🏼 And if that’s you, you’re not alone.

This is some thing I hear all the time from people that reach out to me for virtual consultations to people I talk to you on the street.

🧬 Research shows that 2️⃣ can CHANGE!

💪🏼 but it’s through MOVEMENT and resistance training that it happens

✨ There IS a way to overcome tendonitis and get back to your favorite workouts

If you want to learn more about how tendons heal through resistance training and even what a preventative maintenance routine can look like to improve your tendon health in the future…

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

I’ll send you my FREE TENDONITIS HEALING GUIDE!

And SHARE THIS WITH A FRIEND WHO NEEDS TO KNOW!

Sore and achy hips?

No fears, my friend - it’s hip month 🎉

The most common cause of outer hip pain, which sometimes gets called hip bursitis, is irritation in the outer muscle of your hip called your gluteus medius.

This can sound scary but the good news is this can 100% get better with the right movement plan 🙌🏼

Research shows that strengthening this muscle works better than steroid injections or taking time off to calm the pain down.

One of the most important factors in the hip recovery plans that I focus on with my virtual and in person clients, is identifying WHICH exercises are going to work best for YOUR body.

The right exercise can help pain.

If it’s too intense? It can flare pain.

And if it’s too easy? Progress will stall.

Want to learn more about how to overcome hip tendonitis and hip bursitis to get back to running?

I have a Free Hip Tendonitis Guide that breaks this all down in more detail!

👇🏼
www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

Hip bones connected to the ANKLE bone 🦴🎶 👀

🤯 Did you know that the muscles in your hip work TOGETHER with the muscles in your ankle to rotate your leg?

😫If you tried every hip exercise under the sign, and it’s not helping… this can be a reason why

…and something I see really often in my 1:1 coaching when PT didn’t help.

📚 HOW THIS WORKS

🦵🏼 A muscle in your hip called your gluteus maximus controls how much (or how little) your hip bone rotates when you walk and run.

Know what else rotates when you walk and run?!

Your knee and your foot 🦶🏽

All three of these parts of your body work together in unison…

And this is why ankle mobility further down the chain can be suuuper important.

This week, I’m going to be covering how your hip and ankles work together.

Let me know in the comments what you want to learn!

If you’re looking for expert insight into how to improve this type of hip pain, without injections, or taking months off…

I have a Free Hip Guide that teaches you how I help clients overcome this hip pain to return to running 🏃🏻‍♀️

👇🏼
www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

YES you have other options than doing clamshells every day👀👇

STORY TIME: A client had been doing clamshells and side-lying leg raises every day to try to fix their hip bursitis before they reached out to me to see if they had other options because it didn't seem to be helping.

They were worried they were stuck with it because they were doing "all the right things" but it still wasn't working

And you can imagine my surprise when I found out that NO ONE had told them that daily clamshells often don't fix the problem for active women?

⁉️They said…”You mean I can get better results without doing these dang exercises every day?!”

Helloooooo science has come along way since 1995 so let’s teach you what I’m teaching them so that you have the info you deserve! ♥️

Research shows that daily exercises help when women are in a SPECIFIC phase of the Progression Ladder 🪜

But daily exercises do NOT help once you're past that phase.

🪜 What's the progression ladder?

It's how you PROGRESS exercises for tendonitis and bursitis to help you get back to your desired activity level.

Let me explain...

👍🏼 Once you're back to basic activities and doing mostly okay.

😫But the second you try to play sports, run or hike and the pain comes back.

🪜 You're in a different phase of the ladder 👀

So you NEED more challenging exercises to see progress.

⏰ AND since tendons need 48-72 hours to recover from tougher exercises, if we don't incorporate that recovery timeline into your plan...

You can be doing all the RIGHT ✅ exercises on the WRONG ❌ days and not see progress.

👀 We changed this clients plan to factor in this 48 hour recovery time.

🕰️ So she spent LESS time doing hip strengthening

😮 She saw MORE progress than before

🏔️She’s back to hiking mountains again 🥳

Want to learn more about how to overcome hip bursitis to get back to your full, active life (without endless clamshells every day)?

I made a free video that walks through
it - the research, the why, and where to start even if you can't walk more than 10 minutes without pain.

👇🏼
www.chelseamatthews.co/freehipguide

And SHARE this with a friend who needs to know!

✨Hip Mobility Decoded✨

Today I’m sharing a couple simple screens that I use with my clients to help identify whether adding in hip extension work will be beneficial.

And you can learn to do these for preventative maintenance, too!

👏🏼 Once you learn how your joints function, it’s MUCH easier to take care of them

Got hip questions?!? Drop them below!