Abstract
Jiggling exercise is a conservative treatment for hip osteoarthritis, which involves continuous shaking of the foot and leg in small oscillations while seated. Previous studies have shown beneficial effects of jiggling exercises for outpatients with advanced- and terminal-stage hip osteoarthritis when performed for longer than 1 year, including increases in joint space width and remission of symptoms. We aimed to use the data from our own treatment to evaluate the short-term impact of intensive jiggling exercises on inpatients with hip osteoarthritis to further examine the clinical utility of this exercise. This retrospective case series study included nine patients (57 ± 12 years) with nine hip joints with advanced- or terminal-stage hip osteoarthritis who performed continuous daily jiggling exercises, beginning from day of hospitalization to 6 months post-discharge. Jiggling exercise was performed seated, using the KENKO YUSURI® automated heel vibrating machine at 3.3–5.0 Hz. The patients were also instructed against weight-bearing during hospitalization. The values of radiographic joint space width and Japanese Orthopaedic Association hip score for pain at hospital admission, discharge, and at the 6-month post-discharge checkup were evaluated. Although the hospitalization period and daily time spent performing the jiggling exercise varied in each case (27–98 days and 2–6 hours, respectively), the joint space width increased in all patients and there was an improvement in the hip pain scores in eight patients. The mean values of the minimum joint space width and hip pain scores at discharge were the highest compared to those at hospital admission and 6 months post-discharge. Our results suggest that intensive jiggling exercise for inpatients with advanced- and terminal-stage hip osteoarthritis leads to earlier improvement in joint space width and pain. Daily jiggling exercise for an adequate duration or in combination with non-weight-bearing practices may be a feasible conservative treatment for hip osteoarthritis.
Highlights
Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease and a leading cause of chronic pain, contributing to limited range of motion, walking, and activity
The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) diagnosis of advanced- and terminal-stage hip OA; (2) some pain related to the hip joint; (3) narrowing radiographic joint space width (JSW) of the hip joint; (4) patient’s desire to avoid surgery; and (5) continuous daily jiggling exercise performed from date of hospital admission to 6 months post-discharge
This study examined the value of minimum JSW and pain at hospital admission, at discharge, and at the 6-month post-discharge checkup
Summary
Hip osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease and a leading cause of chronic pain, contributing to limited range of motion, walking, and activity. Due to its progressive and chronic nature, hip OA requires remarkable healthcare resources and involves considerable social costs for treatment, and these demands are bound to increase further in an aging population [2]. The widely recommended guidelines for the treatment of hip OA include non-pharmacological methods such as patient education and self-management, exercise therapy, weight loss in case of overweight or obese individuals, and walking aids as indicated, which are commonly applied as first-line treatment [3, 4]. Though joint replacement surgery is a clinically relevant and cost-effective treatment for terminal-stage hip OA, the surgery should be considered only if all appropriate conservative options, delivered for at least 6 months, have been unsuccessful [5]. At present, there are no established effective disease-modifying non-invasive interventions that can prevent, halt, or restrict the progression of OA [5,6,7]
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