Physical Therapy for Patients with Hip Osteoarthritis

A 2019 American College of Rheumatology guideline recommends exercise for patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) but acknowledges that recommendations for any particular form of exercise over another are “based largely on expert opinion.” Indeed, in one well-constructed trial, a multimodal physical therapy program was not superior to a sham intervention (NEJM JW Gen Med Jun 15 2014 and JAMA 2014; 311:1987).

To further address this uncertainty, researchers randomized 160 patients with mostly unilateral hip OA to receive either neuromuscular exercise (NEMEX; focusing on postural and functional stability) or progressive resistance training (PRT; focusing on muscle strength). Both groups had two 60-minute sessions weekly for 12 weeks, delivered b…