★ 5-Star Rating on Google, 296 Burlington patients. In 2025, our shockwave patients reported an average pain drop from 6.4 to 3.3 out of 10 over their care plan.
You know this pain
An ache in your hip. Maybe it is the outside of the hip, maybe the groin, maybe deep in the joint where you cannot quite point to it. It flares when you climb stairs, walk the first mile, or get up after sitting. For many people, it wakes them up when they roll onto that side at night. You have not stopped living your life, but you have started working around it. Sleeping on the other side. Taking the elevator. Cutting the walk short.
If your hip has hurt for months, and rest, stretches, or even an injection have not fixed it, you are exactly who this page is for.
Who we see with this
Around Burlington, NC, hip pain shows up in patterns we see every week. Walkers and runners who train on the Haw River Trail and feel it more at the start than the end. Golfers who feel it walking the course or deep in the follow-through. Pickleball players from the City Park courts after long open-play mornings. People in trades who climb ladders all day. Gardeners who kneel and stand a hundred times an afternoon. Parents, grandparents, and active retirees who refuse to slow down and should not have to.
The common thread is not the activity. It is the identity. These are people who stay on their feet, and the hip is threatening that. If that sounds like you, keep reading.
What you have probably already tried
Most people who come to us with hip pain have already done the responsible things. Rest, which helped until you got moving again. Stretches from a printout or a video, which sometimes made it angrier. A foam roller. Anti-inflammatories before activity. Ice after. A different mattress, a pillow between the knees. Some have had a cortisone injection, which may calm things for a while, and some have had more than one with less relief each time.
None of that was wrong. For early hip pain, those steps often work. The problem is the chronic case, the hip that has hurt for more than three months. At that point the issue usually is not inflammation anymore, so treatments aimed at inflammation tend to stall.
Why it keeps coming back
Hip pain is rarely one simple thing. It can come from the tendons and muscles around the hip, the joint itself, or even the low back sending pain down to the hip. Often it is a mix. That is part of why the usual fixes stall. Rest, stretches, and injections tend to treat one piece of the picture, and if the real driver is somewhere else, or the tissue has been stuck in a non-healing pattern for months, the pain comes back the moment you get active again. The problem is not that you are doing too much. It is that the true source has not been found and the tissue needs a push to restart healing.
What we do differently
At Cardinal Chiropractic and Sports Recovery, we use shockwave therapy from Storz, the same technology used in sports medicine settings, as part of a complete plan. The Storz system can deliver focused shockwaves that concentrate energy at a precise depth, which matters at the hip because the tendons sit deeper than at the elbow or heel. Research suggests shockwave may help calm pain signals, stimulate local blood flow, and encourage new, healthier collagen so the tendons rebuild instead of staying stuck.
Tendon-related hip pain, one of the most common drivers of stubborn hip pain, is an established, well-studied use for shockwave. Research on chronic tendon problems in this family often reports improvement rates of roughly 65 to 80 percent when shockwave is used as part of a complete care plan, with the strongest outcomes in cases that have hurt for more than three months and have not responded to rest or basic therapy. When arthritis is part of the picture, emerging research on shockwave also shows promising reductions in pain and improvements in function.
Our own numbers point the same way and we stated our results at the top. In 2025, our shockwave patients reported an average pain drop from 6.4 to 3.3 out of 10 over their care plan.
Shockwave rarely works alone here. Depending on your exam, your plan may also include targeted hip and glute strengthening so the tendons rebuild under healthy mechanics, plus chiropractic care, dry needling, cupping, or K Laser, so the whole chain from low back to knee gets addressed, not just the sore spot.
What your first visit looks like
No pressure and no surprises. Your first visit at our Burlington, NC clinic is an exam, not a sales pitch. Hip pain has more than one cause, and sorting that out is the whole point of the exam. We look at how your hip moves, how your low back and pelvis load it, how you walk, and what your day asks of your legs. We ask what you have already tried, because that history changes the plan.
Then we tell you plainly what we found and whether chiropractic care, rehab, and shockwave makes sense for you. If it does, you get a clear plan with a visit count and a price before anything starts. If it does not, we say so, and if your exam points toward imaging, the joint itself, or a different kind of care, we refer you to the right place. We work alongside local physicians and orthopedists, not around them.
What a course looks like
Most hip plans use a series of short shockwave visits, often once a week for three to six weeks. Many patients notice a change within the first few visits. Shockwave is a cash service, which means your plan is built around your hip and your goals, not around what an insurance company will approve.
| Option | Price |
|---|---|
| Single session | $125 |
| 4 Pack | $400 |
| 6 Pack | $600 |
Common questions
Does shockwave hurt? Most patients describe it as intense but tolerable, a strong tapping or pulsing over the sore area for a few minutes. Some notice temporary soreness afterward, similar to a hard workout.
How many sessions will I need? Most plans run three to six shockwave sessions, usually once a week, inside a broader plan. Your exam sets the number, and we re-check as we go rather than locking you into more than you need.
Will I finally be able to sleep on that side again? Night pain is often the symptom patients want gone first, and it is one many report improving as the tendons settle. We cannot promise a timeline, but reducing side-lying pain is a standard goal we track through your plan.
What if it is arthritis? That happens, and it is why the exam comes first. Pain from inside the hip joint is a different picture than tendon pain on the outside of the hip, and it calls for a different plan. If your exam points toward the joint itself, we will tell you plainly and talk through the right next step, including imaging or a referral when that is appropriate.
How is this different from a cortisone shot? Cortisone is designed to calm inflammation, which can feel great in the short term but does not rebuild the tendon. We take a different approach. Our care is designed to support the body’s own repair process so the tissue may become healthier over time. Many of our patients come to us wanting to avoid another injection.
Is this covered by insurance? Shockwave itself is a cash service with transparent pricing. Other parts of your plan, like chiropractic care or rehab, may be billable to insurance depending on your coverage. We will lay out exactly what costs what before you commit to anything.
Is shockwave safe? It is non-invasive and drug free, with a well-studied safety profile. It is not right for everyone. We screen for things like recent cortisone injections in the area, certain medications, active infection, and other exclusions at your exam, and we will tell you honestly if you should not have it.
Is this you?
You may be a good candidate if your hip pain has lasted more than three months, you have already tried rest or basic care, and you want to get back to walking, golf, pickleball, the garden, or a full night’s sleep without planning around your hip. We screen every patient first, and if you are not a fit we will tell you plainly.
Serving Burlington, NC and the surrounding Alamance County communities, including Graham, Mebane, Elon, and Gibsonville.
Book now. Call Cardinal Chiropractic and Sports Recovery in Burlington, NC, or book online.
We are probably not the right clinic if:
- You want an injection or a surgical referral as the first step. Those are sometimes the right answer and we are not the front door for them.
- You are shopping on price per visit. Our plans are built around the shortest route out, which is not always the cheapest line item.
- You want treatment without the strength work. Rebuilding a tendon means loading it. That part is not optional.
