INNOVATIVE BIOMECHANICAL AND ENGINEERING-BASED ASSESSMENTS OF HIP MECHANICS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH HIP-RELATED PAIN

Individuals with hip-related pain exhibit altered movement patterns, and worse fear of movement (kinesiophobia), compared to asymptomatic controls. Exacerbation of hip pain during movement and the role of hip symptom duration may help further our understanding of specific movement patterns that are associated with hip-related pain. A better understanding of the potential connections between hip-related symptom duration, kinesiophobia, hip pain during movement, and lower limb mechanics in those with hip-related pain may allow for more efficient referrals to clinicians and lead to more effective rehabilitation. In addition, the impact of hip-related pain on intra-articular hip loading patterns is not well understood. Finite element modeling allows for the assessment of cartilage stress patterns during activity yet prior finite element models of the hip joint are limited in their ability to quantify both acetabular and femoral cartilage stresses. Therefore, the purpose of Aim 1 was to analyze whether self-reported hip pain during a single-leg squat task, kinesiophobia, and total support moment-related parameters during the eccentric and concentric phases of a single-leg squat task differ based on symptom duration in individuals with hip-related pain. The goals of Aim 2 were: 1) to develop magnetic resonance imaging-based finite element models of individuals with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome and asymptomatic controls that incorporated subject specific bone and cartilage morphology and 2) to validate these finite element models with previously published literature. Our results showed that individuals with longer hip-related symptom duration exhibited altered lower-limb mechanics and worse pain during movement. Our finite element models produced similar stress distributions as previous literature and have the potential to improve our understanding of how FAIS impacts acetabular and femoral cartilage mechanics.