Conservative management acutely improves functional movement and clinical outcomes in patients with pre-arthritic hip pain

Conservative management for individuals with pre-arthritic hip pain is commonly prescribed prior to consideration of surgical management. The purpose of this study is to determine if patients with pre-arthritic hip pain will improve their functional movement control and clinical outcome measures following the implementation of physical therapy and a home-exercise programme. Information was retrospectively collected on consecutive patients and included: demographics, diagnosis, initial and follow-up evaluation of the single leg squat test (SLST) and step-down test (SDT), and patient-reported outcome measures. An independent t-test and one-way analysis of covariance were performed for continuous patient-reported outcome measures and a Fisher’s exact test was performed for patient satisfaction. Forty-six patients (31 female and 15 male) diagnosed with pre-arthritic hip pain were included. A total of 30 patients improved their functional movement control during performance of the SLST, whereas 31 patients improved performance of the SDT. There was a statistically significant difference between patients that improved and did not improve (P ≤ 0.017). Patients with pre-arthritic hip pain who improved their functional movement control following a prescribed rehabilitation intervention are likely to report less pain and greater functional ability in their daily and sports-related activities. This study supports conservative management to acutely improve outcomes for patients with pre-arthritic hip pain.