Postoperative Hip Bracing After Hip Arthroscopy

University of Washington

Status

Completed

Conditions

Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome

Acetabular Labral Tear

Treatments

Device: Hip brace

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

NIH

Identifiers

NCT04599296

STUDY00010038

5P30AR072572-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Hip arthroscopy for treatment of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) involves reshaping of the osseous sources of impingement ("osteoplasty") and treatment of impingement-associated labral tears with labral repair. Postoperative hip braces are advocated to decrease postoperative pain by offloading hip musculature. However there are no studies looking at efficacy of hip braces after hip arthroscopy, and on average 50% of high-volume hip arthroscopists use bracing. The objective of this study is to use a randomized controlled trial to test the cited benefits of postoperative hip bracing on short term patient reported pain scores, validated hip-specific pain scores, and physical exam findings of hip flexor tendonitis.

Full description

Hip arthroscopy for treatment of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) involves reshaping of the osseous sources of impingement ("osteoplasty") and treatment of impingement-associated labral tears with labral repair. The hip joint is subluxated with traction to accomplish this procedure. The diagnoses of FAIS and the incidence of hip arthroscopy have both increased dramatically in the last 20 years in the US -- in a recent study using IBM Marketscan to evaluate rates of hip arthroscopic treatment of FAIS, the investigators found this incidence doubled from 1.2 to 2.1 per 100,000 person-years in just a 3-year period. Despite the increasing incidence of hip arthroscopy in the US, on a recent review the investigators have found few evidence-based studies on postoperative care. A particular area of debate is the use of postoperative hip braces. Postoperative hip braces are advocated to decrease postoperative pain by offloading hip musculature. They may also prevent overuse of the hip flexors by supporting the hip during gait. However there are no studies looking at efficacy of hip braces after hip arthroscopy, and on average 50% of high-volume hip arthroscopists use bracing. The utility of bracing is important because hip braces are expensive (averaging $350-$600): if there are over 7000 hip arthroscopies performed nationwide and 50% of surgeons use hip braces, this amounts to over $2,000,000. The investigator's overall objective is to use a randomized controlled trial to test the cited benefits of postoperative hip bracing on short term patient reported pain scores, validated hip-specific pain scores, and physical exam findings of hip flexor tendonitis.

Enrollment

82 patients

Sex

All

Ages

14 to 60 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Patient age 14-60 on date of surgery
Patient seen at the institution for the study
Patient scheduled to undergo arthroscopic osteoplasty and labral repair for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome.

Exclusion criteria

Any patient anyone who cannot follow up in person in clinic for the 6-week postoperative visit.
Any patient with planned iliopsoas tendon release for tendonitis at the time of surgery, or who undergoes iliopsoas tendon release on the day of surgery (this may be a confounding variable as this is study looking at ability of the hip brace to prevent hip flexor tendonitis after surgery).
Non-English speaking patients (due to limited validation of the patient reported outcome measures in non-English speaking populations).