Clicking Hip When Running: Causes & Fixes | Dr. Heather
That snapping, clicking, or popping sensation in your hip when you run, you might have been told it's "just" a tendon flicking over a bone and not to worry about it. And sometimes that's true. But a clicking hip isn't always benign, and ignoring the movement patterns behind it can lead to bigger problems down the road.
After working with runners for 25+ years, I've found that the clicking hip is one of the most under-investigated running complaints not because it's always serious, but because it's so frequently dismissed before anyone asks why it's happening.
Here's what's actually going on.
The 3 Types of Snapping Hip Syndrome
The medical term for a clicking hip is coxa saltans, snapping hip syndrome. There are three distinct types, and they differ in location, cause, and how they should be managed.
Type 1: External Snapping Hip (Lateral)
This is the most common type in runners. The snapping occurs on the outside of the hip and is caused by the iliotibial band (IT band) or gluteus maximus tendon snapping over the greater trochanter, the bony prominence on the outer hip.
What it feels like: A distinct snap or pop on the outer hip, often visible as a movement of the hip during flexion and extension. May or may not be painful. When painful, it's often accompanied by trochanteric bursitis.
Why it happens: When the IT band is excessively tight, which almost always traces back to weak hip abductors, it doesn't glide smoothly over the greater trochanter during hip movement. Instead it catches and releases with each step.
What drives IT band tightness: Hip abductor weakness (especially gluteus medius), overactive TFL, and the resulting hip drop during running. The same movement patterns behind IT band syndrome and trochanteric bursitis are behind external snapping hip.
Type 2: Internal Snapping Hip (Deep, Front of Hip)
This type is caused by the iliopsoas tendon snapping over a bony ridge (the iliopectineal eminence) or over the femoral head. The snap is felt deep in the front of the hip or groin.
What it feels like: A deep clicking or clunking in the front of the hip, often with hip flexion and rotation. Can be painful, particularly if iliopsoas bursitis has developed alongside it.
Why it happens: A tight or overloaded iliopsoas muscle. Runners with anterior pelvic tilt, hip flexor dominance, or poor glute activation have a chronically shortened iliopsoas that's prone to snapping as it moves across the underlying bone.
The movement connection: This type is almost always paired with hip flexor tightness, weak glutes, and the anterior pelvic tilt pattern I see in the majority of recreational runners. It's a movement imbalance problem presenting as a mechanical snap.
Type 3: Intra-articular Snapping Hip (Inside the Joint)
This is the least common and the most important to identify. Snapping that comes from inside the hip joint itself rather than from tendons moving over bones can indicate a loose body (a fragment of cartilage or bone floating in the joint), a labral tear, or other intra-articular pathology.
What it feels like: A clicking, catching, or locking sensation that feels deeper and more mechanical than the other types. Often accompanied by pain, giving way, or a true catching sensation that momentarily stops movement.
When to get it evaluated: If the snapping is inside the joint, painful, accompanied by a true catching or locking sensation, or associated with hip pain that's worsening, this warrants imaging. An MRI or MR arthrogram can identify labral pathology or loose bodies that need to be addressed.
When Is a Clicking Hip a Problem?
A painless snap on the outer hip that's been present for years and isn't getting worse is usually low urgency it's worth addressing the movement pattern behind it, but it's not an emergency.
A clicking hip warrants prompt attention when:
The snap is painful during or after running
The pain is worsening over time
The snap comes from inside the joint (intra-articular type)
There's a true catching, locking, or giving-way sensation
Hip pain accompanies the snapping and is beginning to limit your training
The Movement Patterns Behind Clicking Hips in Runners
Both external and internal snapping hip types, the vast majority of cases in runners trace back to the same cluster of movement imbalances:
Hip abductor weakness. Inadequate glute med strength leads to IT band tension (external type) and hip drop patterns that overload the hip flexor complex (internal type).
Hip flexor tightness and anterior pelvic tilt. Tight iliopsoas creates internal snapping and drives anterior tilt, which perpetuates the hip flexor dominance that keeps the tendon under tension.
Poor single-leg stability. Running is a single-leg sport. When stability at the hip is inadequate, the tendons and soft tissues around the joint work harder to compensate and snapping is often the result of tendons under chronic tension being forced through ranges they're not moving smoothly through.
Watch: What Your Clicking Hip Is Telling You
In this video I walk through the three types, what distinguishes them, and what the assessment looks like for a runner with a clicking hip.
The Corrective Approach
For external snapping hip:
Hip abductor strengthening (gluteus medius progression)
IT band tension reduction through addressing the underlying weakness
Gait retraining to reduce hip drop and crossover
For internal snapping hip:
Hip flexor length work (but not aggressive stretching into pain)
Glute activation to reduce hip flexor dominance
Anterior pelvic tilt correction
For both types:
Single-leg stability training
Running gait assessment and modification
The Bottom Line
A clicking hip when running is rarely "just noise." It's a movement signal, a tendon under too much tension being forced over a bony prominence because the stabilizing muscles haven't been doing their job. In most cases, addressing the hip stabilizer weakness and movement patterns behind the snap resolves it entirely.
The cases that don't resolve with a movement approach are the intra-articular type and those need imaging and medical evaluation.
Hip clicking or snapping with every run? Book a free movement consultation — I'll assess which type you have and what's driving it, so you can address the root cause rather than just tolerating the snap.
For related reading, my posts on hip pain when running and hip bursitis in runners cover the movement patterns most closely associated with snapping hip syndrome.
Dr. Heather Gansel is a movement specialist and performance coach with 25+ years helping runners resolve chronic pain by identifying and correcting the root-cause movement imbalances behind their injuries. She works virtually with runners worldwide. Learn more.
