MUSCULAR CO-ACTIVATION IN SUBJECTS AFFECTED BY FEMOROACETABULAR IMPINGEMENT

Abstract

Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI) is a hip deformity that causes hip and groin pain. Previous research showed that FAI patients have altered hip kinetics and kinematics and pelvic kinematics. Whether or not this is due to different muscular strategies is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the muscular co-activation in FAI patients. Electromyographic signals were recorded from 16 hip muscles. The coactivation index was calculated for FAI symptomatic, asymptomatic and control groups. Even if not statistically significant, the co-activation measurements showed a trend similar to the findings for osteoarthritic (OA) patients. Additional investigations are warranted to confirm this analogy that could further relate FAI and OA development, and to confirm the hypothesis that FAI anomalies are also due to altered muscular strategies.