Your Hip Pain Is More Than Just Your Hip

Dr. Brent Garcia, DACM, L.Ac., LMT • September 3, 2026

That pinch when you stand up after back-to-back meetings. The kind that's been showing up more often than it used to.

Sound familiar?

Hip pain is rarely simple. The joint itself is usually part of it.

But it's rarely the whole story.

Most of the time the fascia and muscle wrapped around the joint, glutes, deep external rotators, hip flexors, sometimes your low back or ankle, are doing extra work to compensate. That's where a lot of the actual problem lies.

Why stretching only gets you so far

Foam rolling and stretching feel good. But tight, overworked tissue doesn't release just because you pulled on it.

Trigger points and motor entry points, the spot where a nerve enters a muscle and controls how it fires, need something more direct. That's where orthopedic acupuncture and dry needling come in.

I'm not just working the joint, nor just the muscles where you feel discomfort around the hip. I'm going after the fascia and muscle around it, resetting how it's firing, not just how far it stretches.

When the fascia and muscle around a joint are working the way they should, the joint settles into the position it's supposed to be in. That's called joint centration. It's often a missing piece.

This isn't meridian and energy based acupuncture, it's precise orthopedic work. I'm not the only acupuncturist who does it this way, but there aren't many of us.

What to expect

Most people feel something shift in the first session or two.

Lasting relief takes a bit longer. I'll give you a specific number of sessions after your first visit, not a vague "let's see how it goes."

Self care matters. Foam rolling and stretching are still worth doing.

But sometimes what fixes it is a body mechanic for high performers, someone who finds what's actually compensating and deals with it directly. Reach out and let's get you on the schedule.