Return to Sport Rates in Physically Active Individuals 6 Months After Arthroscopy for Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome.

CONTEXT

Six months is the expected time frame to return to sport (RTS) after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS).

OBJECTIVE

The primary aims of this study were to (1) report the RTS rate of physically active individuals 6 months after arthroscopic surgery for FAIS and (2) compare the self-reported hip function between those who were able to RTS against those who had not.

DESIGN

Cohort study.

SETTING

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

PATIENTS

A total of 42 physically active individuals scheduled for hip arthroscopy for FAIS.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Self-reported function, including preinjury and current activity levels and ability to participate in sport, were collected on 42 individuals with FAIS prior to surgery and at 6-month follow-up. Participants were allocated into 2 groups based on self-reported RTS status at 6-month follow-up. Separate 2-way analyses of variance were used to test the interaction of groups (those who did/did not RTS). Main effects were reported in the absence of statistically significant interactions (P ≤ .05).

RESULTS

Altogether, 28 of 42 participants (66%) returned for 6-month follow-up; 5 of the 14 participants (35.7%) lost to follow-up underwent contralateral hip surgery within the study time frame. At the 6-month follow-up, 16 of the remaining 28 participants (57.1%) reported that they had returned to sport, 5 of whom returned at their prior level of participation. There was no statistically significant interaction of group and time for either hip outcome score subscale (P ≥ .20). Self-reported hip function improved over time, regardless of group (P ≤ .001). Participants in the yRTS group demonstrated higher hip outcome score-sport scores than did the nRTS group, regardless of time (P = .04).

CONCLUSIONS

Though just over half of participants returned to sport 6 months after hip arthroscopy for FAIS, only 18% returned to their previous level of sports participation. Participants who returned to sport reported better function than those who did not, but self-reported hip function improved over time regardless of group. The most commonly reported reasons for not returning to sport were weakness (69.6%), fear (65.2%), and pain (56.5%).