I am experiencing severe hip pain. The best way to describe the location is at the top of the femur bone where it meets the pelvis. In my mind, I see a big knuckle at the top of the femur that is just grinding into my hip bone there. I'm not sure if that is what is going on, but is the only effective way to describe it without being able to see in there what is going on. I have been running very regularly since Jan. 2005. I had a similar experience shortly after I began running, but the pain was not as severe. I took a week off, started running more miles on treadmill and then running hard surfaces only once or twice a week. This corrected the problem. Last year, I was in Iraq and all of my running was done exclusively on treadmills. I've been home since August of 2011 and continue to run, only almost all of my running has been on hard surfaces. This time the pain is severe. Maybe an 8 on a scale from 1 to 10. Could anyone offer some advice. Has anyone had any similar experiences? If so, what were your remedies? I really, really NEVER want to give up running.

Ed