Shane Nho, M.D. of Midwest Orthopedics at Rush and his colleagues investigated how arthroscopic management of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome affects return to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in their study, “High Rate of Return to High-Intensity Interval Training After Arthroscopic Management of Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome,” published online in June 2018 in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. They found that 88% of the study participants were able to return to their training.
During the study period, 32 patients (13 male, 19 female) who identified as participating in HIIT underwent hip arthroscopic surgery for femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. The surgeries took place between 2012 and 2015. Patient-reported outcomes including Harris Hip Score (mHHS), Hip Outcome Score-Activities of Daily Living (HOS-ADL), Hip Outcome Score-Sports-Specific Subscale (HOS-SSS), and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain were measured before surgery and at a minimum of two years after surgery.
According to the data, before surgery 14 patients had stopped HIIT because of hip pain, 17 had scaled back their training and 1 patient maintained her baseline routine. Post-operatively, 28 of the 32 patients (88%) returned to HIIT about nine to ten months after surgery. And 96% returned at the same level of performance as before injury or better.
All patients had significant improvements in the HOS-ADL score (69.7 ± 17.3 to 94.2 ± 8.4; p < .001), HOS-SSS score (49.2 ± 21.2 to 83.3 ± 21.4; p < .001), mHHS score (59.9 ± 14.2 to 85.4 ± 11.6; p < .001), and VAS for pain score (7.5 ± 1.8 to 1.1 ± 1.3; p < .001) from preoperatively to postoperatively.
Nho told OTW, “These patients are highly motivated with a strong desire to remain active. It took about ten months for patients to get back to HIIT activities and 88% of patients were able to return to HIIT.”
He added, “The time to return to HIIT can take longer than expected. Given the intensity of the activity, it is reassuring that they are very likely able to return with proper treatment and rehab.”
