Hi all, I have been having persistent hip pain in roughly the circled spot for a few months now. I want to do something about it before it gets worse but I don't know how. It feels very tight and unpleasant when stretching and I also get pins and needles very quickly when sitting on my sit bones or a hard chair.
Another clue to the location of the discomfort: the stretch that feels best is sitting crisscross with my right foot on bottom and leaning away from my hip with my leg grounded to the floor.
I can feel my body compensating and stiffness is slowly starting to travel up my lower back.
Could be your piriformis muscle. The stretch is a big clue to that, although I'm not sure about the pins and needles.
I had pain in that area and was sure it was the joint, that I'd need surgery, etc. Went to physical therapy and they figured it out almost immediately by massaging. You could try the same if you can't get physical therapy for whatever reason.
Imagine a letter C just to the left of the green circle in your picture, just behind where your hip protrudes out. Rub that by hand, or with a tennis ball between that area and a wall. If you feel some instant relief from that it's probably your piriformis. From there you can do some exercises and stretches to strengthen it over time, reply and I can send you a website with them.