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Muscle weakness in hip osteoarthritis: A systematic review
Arthritis Care & Research , 08/02/2012
Loureiro A et al. – Individuals with hip osteoarthritis (OA) experience generalised lower limb weakness primarily due to reduction in muscle size. Overall findings of this review suggest the need to address the issue of lower limb muscle weakness in the clinical management of hip OA.
Methods- Six electronic databases were searched to identify articles that compared muscle strength, size, quality and inhibition of the affected leg of persons with unilateral hip OA with their contra-lateral leg and/or legs of healthy controls.
- Included articles were assessed for bias and appraised for quality.
- Standardised effect sizes were calculated for measures of leg muscle strength, size, quality and inhibition.
- Thirteen articles met the inclusioncriteria.
- There was strong evidence for lesserstrength of muscles within the affected leg in persons with hip OA compared with their contra-lateral leg and/or healthy control legs.
- There was also moderate evidence for reduced muscle size and quality in the affected compared with the contra-lateral limb of hip OA participants.
- Evidence for muscle inhibition within the affected limb of persons with hip OA compared with their contra-lateral leg and/or the healthy control legs was limited.