Abstract
Introduction
The changes in sagittal spino-pelvic balance from standing to sitting in patients with end-stage osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip remain poorly characterized. Our aim was to 1) investigate the contribution of sagittal spino-pelvic movement and hip flexion when moving from a standing to sitting posture in patients with hip OA; 2) determine the proportion of OA-patients with stiff, normal or hypermobile spino-pelvic mobility and 3) identify radiographic parameters correlating with spino-pelvic mobility.
Methods
This prospective diagnostic cohort study followed 116 consecutive patients with end-stage osteoarthritis awaiting THR. All patients underwent preoperative standardized radiographs (lateral view) of the lumbar spine, pelvis and proximal femur using EOS© in standing position and with femurs parallel to the floor in order to achieve a 90°-seated position. Radiographic measurements performed included lumbar lordosis (LL), sacral slope (SS), pelvic tilt (PT), pelvic incidence (PI) and pelvic-femoral-angle (PFA). The difference in PT between standing and seated allowed for patient classification based on spino-pelvic mobility into stiff (<±10°), normal (±10–30°), or hypermobile (>±30°).
Results
From the standing to the sitting position, the pelvis tilted backwards by a mean of 19.1° (SD 12.8) and the hip was flexed by a mean of 56.6° (SD 17.2). Change in pelvic tilt correlated inversely with change in hip flexion (r=−0.68; P<0.01; r2=0.47). Thirty-two patients (28%) had stiff, 68 (58%) normal and 16 (14%) hypermobile spino-pelvic mobility. Multivariate regression analysis adjusted for patient age, BMI, static LL, SS, PI, PT and PFA showed a correlation for static standing SS and the change in PT (p=0.03; β=2.31; r2=0.34).
Conclusion
Hip flexion contributes on average 75% (25–100%) of the motion required to sit upright. Pre-operative assessment would identify patients with spino-pelvic hypermobility (associated greater change in cup orientation) or stiffness (associated increased hip range-of-movement), which would be at greater risk of dislocation.
