Gluteal muscle dysfunction and the role of specific strengthening in hip osteoarthritis: a review

Abstract

Background: The muscle system provides essential support to a joint, and muscle weakness and atrophy may occur in the presence of joint pathology, such as osteoarthritis (OA). The gluteal muscles – gluteus medius and gluteus maximus – provide an important stability role in the hip joint and evidence exists for gluteal weakness in hip OA. Therefore, rehabilitation should address such dysfunction.

Objectives: To identify the use of gluteal strengthening in exercise-based randomised controlled trials or randomised clinical trials of hip OA.

Methods: A structured literature search was undertaken to review the evidence for use of gluteal strengthening in hip OA clinical trials.

Results: Eleven randomised controlled or randomised clinical trials of strengthening-based exercise in hip OA were identified and searched for evidence of gluteal strengthening. None of the studies reported specific strengthening of the gluteal muscles and details of the strengthening regimes used were poorly described in most of the studies. This lack of specificity may be one of the reasons why only small effect sizes and short-term benefits have been found for exercise therapy in the management of hip OA.

Keywords:

• OSTEOARTHRITIS
• GLUTEUS MAXIMUS
• GLUTEUS MEDIUS
• EXERCISE
• STRENGTHENING