NCT04771936

Relationship of Core Stability on Pain and Functional Levels in Patients Diagnosed With Hip Osteoarthritis

Completed NA Last updated 23 November 2022

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Physiotherapy Exercises in Osteoarthritis, Hip in 51 participants. Completed in 30 June 2022.

Timeline

28 June 2021

Primary endpoint
30 June 2022

30 June 2022

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of Malta
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	51
Start date	28 June 2021
Primary completion	30 June 2022
Estimated completion	30 June 2022
Sites	1 location across Malta

Drugs / interventions tested

• Physiotherapy Exercises

Conditions studied

• Osteoarthritis, Hip — all drugs for Osteoarthritis, Hip →

Sponsor

University of Malta

Who can join

40 and older, any sex, with Osteoarthritis, Hip. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disease that occurs more commonly amongst the elderly and is caused by the destruction of the joint cartilage. It is considered to be one of the most common joint disorders worldwide and a main cause of disability amongst older adults. After the knee, the hip is considered to be the second most commonly affected joint by OA. One of the functional capacities affected by OA is muscle strength with studies looking into knee OA documenting a decrement of this measure. It is reported that the muscle strength of the quadriceps, hamstrings and other musculature around the hip is significantly impaired in patients with knee OA compared to age-matched controls.

Evidence for quadriceps muscle weakness in knee OA is consistent and programs based on quadriceps strengthening exercises as a core component in the management of knee OA are now evidence-based. Lower extremity muscle weakness is also apparent in hip OA. However, compared to the knee, there is less literature on muscle strength in hip OA with guidelines for therapeutic exercise prescription being more expert rather than evidence-based. Therefore, one of the major questions that arises here is whether muscle weakness as observed in knee OA is evident in hip OA, and if so, which muscles are most affected.

A concept which has been found to help diminish the effect of decreased muscle strength in the above mentioned muscle groups is optimal core stability. Core stability contributes to strength, endurance, flexibility and motor control all of which optimise the stability of the spine during both dynamic and static tasks in daily normal biomechanical function in patients with a diagnosis of OA knees. Despite such evidence, no studies to the knowledge of the researcher have looked into the effects of core stability on pain and functional levels in patients with a diagnosis of OA hip. A lack of literature in relation to this aspect is due to the unavailability of a gold standard for measuring core stability.

Therefore, the objective of this study will be multifold with an investigation into which muscles in the lower limb are predominantly weaker, whether there is core muscle weakness in patients with hip OA, looking for any correlation between both these factors and whether an exercise programme leads to changes on functional activity and pain levels.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.