I’ve been dealt my fair share of fitness aches and pains, ranging from regular delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) to a microfracture. But the worst injury has to be tendonitis. The gnawing, almost itchy pain started on the inside of my foot (known as posterior tibial tendonitis) and has recently made its way around to my hips in the form of gluteal tendinopathy.

It’s not the most painful injury, but it’s certainly one of the most stubborn. A chronic condition, it tends to flare up at the most inconvenient of times and it’s hard to get rid of the low-level buzz of irritation. And there’s another annoying thing about tendonitis: women are more susceptible to it than men. In fact, it impacts up to 25% of the population and is three times more common in women than men. Gluteal tendinopathy is the most common form of lower-body tendon injury – meaning there are women everywhere stumbling around with painful hips.

This might sound like an open and shut case but, according to a 2022 systematic review brilliantly titled Women Have Tendons… And Tendinopathy: Gender Bias Is A “Gender Void” In Sports Medicine With A Lack Of Women Data On Patellar Tendinopathy, just 2% of all participants in tendon research are women. So we know it’s a big issue for women but not enough of us have had our sore tendons tested.

Women are more prone to tendonitis than men – here’s how to finally get rid of the pain, according to physiotherapists