Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:02 Anatomy - What Causes the Pain 1:51 Why Tendon Science Is Key For Recovery 2:37 Why Stretching, Rest and Injections Don't Fix This Long-Term 3:16 Practical Tips You Can Implement Today 4:08 The 3 Prong Approach - What Long-Term Recovery Needs 4:43 What Heals the Tendon Over Time 5:17 Common Reasons Why Strengthening Doesn't Work 7:39 How to Learn More

Why everything you've been told might be making this worse

Stretching is probably not helping. It may be hurting.

This is the one that surprises women most.

If you've been doing figure-four stretches, pigeon pose, or anything that pulls your knee across your body — and your pain keeps coming back — there's a specific clinical reason why.

The pain in lateral hip pain comes from the gluteal tendons — the connective tissue attaching your glute muscles to the outside of your hip. When you stretch into positions that bring your knee across your body, you're placing direct compression on that tendon against the bone.

That area feels tight — but the tightness isn't because the muscle is short. It's because there's inflammation and fluid in the tendon. Stretching doesn't release it. It compresses an already irritated structure.

Complete rest isn't fixing it either.

Rest makes intuitive sense. Take six weeks off, let it heal, try running again.

The problem: this isn't the type of injury that responds to rest. And the research is specific about why.

Studies have looked at three groups of women with this exact condition — one group did resistance training, one received injections, one rested completely. The resistance training group got more pain relief, faster, with better long-term outcomes than either of the other groups.

There's also a specific reason why rest backfires. Research shows that if a tendon goes without movement or resistance for more than 14 days, it starts to decondition — changes happen at a cellular level that make it more sensitive to load when you return. This is why so many women rest, feel better, go back to tougher workouts, and find the pain is just as bad or worse.

The rest didn't fix anything. It reduced the irritation temporarily while the tendon lost capacity.

Injections aren't a long-term solution.

Corticosteroid injections can offer short-term relief — but research now shows repeated injections over time have a detrimental effect on bone density. For a woman who plans to be thriving at 70, that tradeoff matters.

What actually works: the two-prong system

Getting back to full activity with outer hip pain requires two things working together. Most approaches focus heavily on one and neglect the other — which is one of the most common reasons women stay stuck for months or years longer than necessary.

1: Strengthening — with the right progression

The research is clear - resistance training works better than rest or injections for this condition. But strengthening without the right progression and without the right starting point is where most programs fail.

Most women that try strengthening and don’t get the results they want don’t have an exercise problem, they have a progression problem.

If the resistance levels of your exercises are too high - pain can flare.

If the resistance levels are too low - progress stalls.

What solves this? Finding the level that's right for where your hip is right now and progressing your exercises every two to four weeks as your capacity builds.

This is what allows the collagen structure inside your tendons to become stronger and healthier over time. Having stronger, healthier tendons is one of two ways to help reduce the risk of flare-ups in the future.

The other one is bucket 2…

Bucket 2: Return to activity— with progression gates

This is the piece that's most often missing — and for some women it matters even more than the resistance training exercises themselves.

Here’s why it matters: the amount that you walk, hike or run each week can impact pain just as much (and for some women more) than the strengthening exercises you’re doing.

This is why many women “feel better with strength work” then try a tougher workout or activity and have a pain flare that feels confusing.

The solution?

Increasing the amount that you walk, hike or run each week based on a system and assessment, rather than guessing.

What this means for you

If you've been stuck in the cycle of trying to return to running and having it flare every time — that's not your body failing you.

It's what happens when the approach doesn't start where you actually are.

The tools exist. The research is clear. Getting back to a full active life with lateral hip pain is entirely possible — and it doesn't require giving up the activities that makes you feel like yourself.

Want to understand the anatomy behind why this happens? Jump to [1:02] in the video above — I walk through exactly which structures are involved and why they respond the way they do.