Research suggests that the prevalence of side hip pain is 4 times higher in females than males, but why? It is because they naturally have a wider pelvis. Because of the wider pelvis and Q angle (See the below), there will be a stretching force placed on the outer side of their pelvis.

As a result, the gluteus medius muscles are likely to get weak. This side hip muscle is called 'Pelvic stabilizer', as it plays an important role in stabilizing the pelvis. However, due to the aforementioned reasons (wider pelvis and Q angle), it is prone to get weaker over time especially if you don't do much exercises to strengthen it.

Moreover, recent papers also indicate that post-menopausal women tend to develop GTPS more, possibly because their muscles and tendons are likely to weaken due to hormonal changes. Once weakened, the muscle can get overloaded and tight and if the side hip muscle gets tight, it will pull its own tendon away from the greater trochanter, which will press onto the bursa underneath and increase friction.

Interestingly, the last study found that when the participants with gluteal tendinopathy were divided into three groups and treated only with exercise, steroid injection, and wait and see, the pain and quality of life in the 'exercise' group improved significantly. Therefore, it is feasible to say that following this program with scientifically proven exercises can shorten the recovery time and improve the quality of your life!

References

Grimaldi, A., & Fearon, A. (2015). Gluteal tendinopathy: integrating pathomechanics and clinical features in its management. journal of orthopaedic & sports physical therapy, 45(11), 910-922.

Ganderton, C., Semciw, A., Cook, J., & Pizzari, T. (2016). Does menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), exercise or a combination of both, improve pain and function in post-menopausal women with greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS)? A randomised controlled trial. BMC women's health, 16(1), 32.

Mellor, R., Bennell, K., Grimaldi, A., Nicolson, P., Kasza, J., Hodges, P., ... & Vicenzino, B. (2018). Education plus exercise versus corticosteroid injection use versus a wait and see approach on global outcome an pain from gluteal tendinopathy: prospective, single blinded, randomised clinical trial. bmj, 361, k1662.