Hip joint pathology: relationship between patient history, physical tests, and arthroscopy findings in clinical practice

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • M Tijssen
  • R E H van Cingel
  • E de Visser
  • Hølmich, Per
  • M W G Nijhuis-van der Sanden

The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to (a) describe the clinical presentation of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and hip labral pathology; (b) describe the accuracy of patient history and physical tests for FAI and labral pathology as confirmed by hip arthroscopy. Patients (18-65 years) were included if they were referred to a physical therapist to gather pre-operative data and were then diagnosed during arthroscopy. Results of pre-operative patient history and physical tests were collected and compared to arthroscopy. Data of 77 active patients (mean age: 37 years) were included. Groin as main location of pain, the Anterior Impingement test (AIT), Flexion-Abduction-External Rotation (FABER) test, and Fitzgerald test had a high sensitivity (range 0.72-0.91). Sensitivity increased when combining these tests (0.97) as either groin as main location of pain and a positive FABER test or a positive AIT and a positive FABER test were the shortest most sensitive combinations. The results of this study point out that in clinical practice absence of groin as main location of pain combined with a negative FABER test or the combination of a negative AIT and a negative FABER test are suggested to rule out the diagnosis of symptomatic FAI and/or labral pathology.

Original languageEnglish
JournalScandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
Volume27
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)342–350
Number of pages9
ISSN0905-7188
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2017

ID: 164818008