Article Text
Abstract
Objectives: (a) To compare the magnitude of gluteus medius and tensor fascia lata activation between a group of subjects with clinical unilateral hip osteoarthritis and a group of healthy older adults. (b) To compare the magnitude of activation of the gluteus medius and tensor fascia lata between sides in a group of subjects with clinical unilateral hip osteoarthritis and a group of healthy older adults.
Methods: 19 subjects with clinical unilateral hip osteoarthritis and 19 healthy controls were investigated. The subjects performed a stepping task during which recordings were obtained using surface electromyograms from the hip abductors, and kinetic data were obtained from a dual force platform.
Results: Subjects with clinical hip osteoarthritis had higher gluteus medius activation than the healthy older adults (p=0.037). In addition, there were no differences in the magnitude of gluteus medius activation between the sides (p=0.733). There was no difference in the force platform data between the groups (p=0.078).
Conclusions: The increased magnitude of gluteus medius activation in the group with hip osteoarthritis is evidence of a muscular dysfunction associated with hip disease. This has implications for the progressive nature of the disease and for its conservative management.
- gluteus medius
- stepping
- hip
- osteoarthritis
- AP, anteroposterior
- COP, centre of pressure
- EMG, electromyography
- GMD, gluteus medius
- ML, mediolateral
- OA, osteoarthritis
- RM-ANOVA, repeated measures analysis of variance
- RMS, root mean square
- TFL, tensor fascia lata
- VAS, visual analogue scale
- WOMAC, Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis (index)
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- AP, anteroposterior
- COP, centre of pressure
- EMG, electromyography
- GMD, gluteus medius
- ML, mediolateral
- OA, osteoarthritis
- RM-ANOVA, repeated measures analysis of variance
- RMS, root mean square
- TFL, tensor fascia lata
- VAS, visual analogue scale
- WOMAC, Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis (index)