Effect of Medical Exercise Therapy and individual therapy in patient with osteoarthritis of the hip – a pilot study

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of Medical Exercise Therapy (MTT) and individual therapy in patient with osteoarthritis of the hip. Design: A pilot study evaluating the effect of an outpatient physiotherapy program at discharge and six months later. Material: The included participants were patients suffering from osteoarthritis in the hip. Methods: The patients, ten men and eight women were tested at baseline, at discharge and at six months follow up. The main outcome measures were pain (Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)) and function (Harris Hip Score (HHS),«Six-minute walk test», and the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS)). The treatment was a combination of group exercise based on MTT principles and individual treatment based on manual therapy theories. Results: The compliance rate was 88.1 per cent (SD=10.7). The results showed significant improvements both for pain and function. The VAS for pain decreased from 4.4 (SD=2.4) to 2.7 (SD=2.3) (pConclusion: A six months physiotherapy program combining a group exercise program and individual manual therapy treatment seemed to have positive effect on pain and function up to six months after discharge.

Keywords

• Osteoarthritis
• hip
• exercise therapy