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- Heavy slow resistance training combined with…
Heavy slow resistance training combined with patient education in patients with gluteal tendinopathy: a feasibility study
Key Points
- A heavy slow resistance training intervention combined with patient education is safe and feasible in patients with gluteal tendinopathy, in terms of adherence, drop-outs, adverse events and lateral hip pain tolerability.
INTRODUCTION
Gluteal tendinopathy (GT) is a persistent and disabling condition characterized by moderate to severe lateral hip pain (LHP) (1-3). GT is one of the most common lower-limb tendinopathies in clinical practice, affecting up to 24% of middle-aged women. Exercise is currently the recommended first-line treatment for GT and it is combined with patient education (1). Heavy slow resistance training (HSR), involving high-load, low-velocity isotonic muscle contractions, has demonstrated meaningful improvements in pain and physical function in Achilles and patellar tendinopathy. However, in GT, a traditional repetition-maximum (RM)-based HSR program with linear load progression remains unexamined. Therefore, preliminary feasibility research is beneficial before initiating a larger trial.
The primary aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of combining HSR with patient education in patients with GT in terms of adherence, drop-outs, adverse events and LHP tolerability. A secondary purpose was to evaluate changes in LHP, patient-reported outcomes, functional performance and hip muscle strength.
The hip abduction exercise, even though it loads the symptomatic tendons most, still had high adherence, suggesting it is well-tolerated and often preferred by people with gluteal tendinopathy.
METHODS
Design: Single-group, interventional feasibility trial.