Physical impairments in longstanding hip and groin pain: Cross-sectional comparison of patients with hip-related pain or non-hip-related groin pain and healthy controls

Objectives: To compare physical impairments between patients with hip-related pain and those with non-hip-related groin pain, and to compare both patient groups with healthy controls. Design: Cross-sectional. Participants: Eighty-one hip and groin pain patients were consecutively included and categorized into having hip-related pain or non-hip-related groin pain. Twenty-eight healthy controls were recruited. Settings: Tertiary care. Main outcome measures: All participants performed physical impairment testing including hip ROM, muscle function, and functional tasks. An analysis of covariates was used for analysis between patients groups and controls. Results: Patients with hip-related pain showed reduced hip ROM in internal rotation compared to patients with non-hip-related groin pain and controls (p ≤ 0.026, d −0.65; −0.97). No differences in muscle function or performance in functional tasks were observed between patients with hip-related pain and those with non-hip-related groin pain (p ≥ 0.136, d 0.00; 0.68). Both patient groups had worse muscle function and worse performance in functional tasks compared to controls (p ≤ 0.048, d −0.67; −1.83). Conclusions: Both patients with and without hip-related pain had worse muscle function and worse performance in functional tasks compared to matched controls but no differences were observed between the patient groups. Only patients with hip-related pain had reduced ROM in internal rotation.