the Horsens Aarhus FemoroAcetabular Impingement Syndrome Training Pilot Study

The aim of the study is to investigate the feasibility of a training intervention in patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Femoroacetabular Impingement
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Physiotherapist-led training

Detailed Description

The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of a 12-weeks (progressive) exercise program in patients with FAIS. Feasibility is evaluated on the recruitment strategy, patient adherence to the exercises and their experiences with and motivation for performing exercises. Furthermore, the investigators wish to investigate the variation of data before and after the exercise program to help estimate a suitable sample size for a future randomized controlled trial.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 15
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Danmark
    • Horsens, Danmark, Denmark, DK-8700
      • Signe Kierkegaard

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 50 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients aged 18-50 years old
2. Diagnosed with FAIS according to the Warwick agreement
3. Patients having cam morphology should have an alpha angle of > 55 degrees on an anterior-posterior radiograph.
4. Patients having pincer should have a lateral centre edge angle of >39 degrees on an anterior-posterior radiograph.
5. Lateral joint space width should be >3 mm.
6. Body mass index is below 30.
7. Motivated for participation in a 12 week training program with 8 physical attendances.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Received physiotherapist-led treatment in the past 3 months,
2. Previous hip surgery in included hip or other major hip injury,
3. Systemic conditions e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, cancer,
4. Chronical pain syndromes,
5. Unable to perform testing procedures,
6. Unable to attend a 12-week treatment program or baseline and follow-up assessments
7. Contraindications to radiographs (e.g. pregnancy)
8. Unable to read or understand questionnaires and/or instructions

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Physiotherapist-led training; Physiotherapy-led training of patients with FAIS	Procedure: Physiotherapist-led training; Patients will undergo a 12-week physiotherapist-led training program consisting of 8 supervised sessions and home-based training in between

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of completed exercise sessions	Number of completed exercise sessions. A high adherence is defined as attendance of > 75% of planned sessions	0-12 weeks
Completion of training program	The training program is considered completed if patients are not dropping out of the study before the end of the 12 weeks. Completion rate will be calculated as % patients who completed the study	0-12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Copenhagen Hip and Groin Outcome Score (HAGOS)	HAGOS is a questionnaire developed for young, active persons experiencing hip and/or groin pain. It consists of 6 subscales: Pain, Symptoms, Activities of Daily Living, Sport, Participation in Sport and Hip-related quality of life. The main subscales used in this study are HAGOS pain and sport.	Change from 0-12 weeks
The International Hip Outcome Tool (iHOT-33)	iHOT-33 is a questionnaire focussing at patients' hip related quality of life in 33 questions. Both a total score and sub scales: "Symptoms and functional limitations", "Sports and recreational activities", "Job related concerns" and "Social, emotional and lifestyle concerns", are extracted from the questionnaire.	Change from 0-12 weeks
The Hip Sports Activity Scale (HSAS)	Current physical activity measured from 0 to 8 points, 0 being no activity and 8 being an athlete	Change from 0-12 weeks
Maximal hip muscle strength	Change (Nm/kg) in maximal hip flexion, extension, abduction and adduction from 0-12 weeks	Change from 0-12 weeks
One-legged hop for distance	Change (cm) i hop distance from 0-12 weeks	0-12 weeks
Y-balance board	Change (cm) in ability to perform on the y balance board from 0-12 weeks	0-12 weeks
Patient Acceptable Symptom State	Patient Acceptable Symptom State (yes/no): Change in number of patients reporting yes vs. no from baseline to 12 weeks	0-12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Horsens Hospital
• Collaborators: University of Aarhus; La Trobe University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Signe Kierkegaard, PhD, Regionshospitalet Horsens

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 1, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 12, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 26, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): September 1, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 3, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 30, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Musculoskeletal Diseases; Pathologic Processes; Joint Diseases; Femoracetabular Impingement
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1-16-02-724-18

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Pilot study with few participants.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No