While many people consider a little bit of hip pain or stiffness to be a normal part of life and aging, there are some signs to keep in mind if you are worried about the pain. These signs and symptoms include deformation of the hip joint, sudden and intense swelling, and pain in your hip joints, any obvious signs of infection such as unusual redness and heat on the hips or a painful feeling in the hips followed by a fever, loss of movement in your legs or hips or the inability to put any weight on a leg or hip. These indicate the beginnings of a serious injury and should be looked at immediately by an orthopedic doctor.