Integrated framework to quantify functional abnormalities in patients before and after hip replacement

In the framework of total hip arthroplasty (THA), there is today in clinical practice no well-defined short-term strategy to prevent impaired outcomes and implant failures. Indeed, reported high revision rate and implant failures are based on cohort studies which take a long follow-up time to generate useful data while patients at risks are not yet targeted. Moreover, cohort studies focus on a group of patients receiving a similar treatment to draw general conclusions but not on an individual basis, although response to a treatment can be patient-dependent. There is therefore a need for an innovative approach to establish a short-term patient evaluation and on an individual level. The goal of the project is hence to develop an integrated workflow and a personalized physiotherapy care plan to diagnose and remediate gait deviations following a primary total hip arthroplasty. This will prevent aberrant loading of the hip joint with consequent implant failure. Innovative in our approach is the integrative use of state-of-the-art biomechanical assessment methods; more specific clinical gait analysis, and musculoskeletal modelling techniques supplemented with state of the art techniques for muscle force measurements. The project results are therefore not only useful as a new screening tool to monitor gait aberrations in THA, they also allow to estimate the efficacy of treatment protocols aiming to improve gait function and consequently normalizeimplant loading.nrpages: 260status: publishe