Original Research Article
Year: 2018 | Month: September | Volume: 8 | Issue: 9 | Pages: 80-88
Efficacy of Hip Abductor and Extensor Strengthening on Pain, Strength and Lower Extremity Function in Piriformis Syndrome: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Krishnendu Laha1, Bibhuti Sarkar2, Pravin Kumar3, Lilima Patel4, Nilanjan Sarkar4
1Professional Trainee (P.T), 2Demonstrator (PT), 3Assist. Professor (PT), 4Professional Trainee (P.T),
Department of Physiotherapy, National Institute for Locomotor Disability (Divyangjan), B.T. ROAD, Bonhoogly, Kolkata-700090, West Bengal, India.
Corresponding Author: Krishnendu Laha
ABSTRACT
Background and Purpose: Piriformis syndrome is a collection of symptoms and signs of pain from piriformis muscle and is characterized by pain in buttock with variable involvement of sciatic nerve. The benefits of neural mobilization and piriformis stretching is widely described earlier but, the effect of hip abductor and extensor strengthening is not well described
Methods: 33 subjects with piriformis syndrome were randomly assigned into two groups. Among those 3 subjects (Group A- 1, Group B- 2) were dropped out due to personal reason. Subjects in group A (n=15) received 10 sessions of hip abductor and extensor strengthening along with neural mobilization & piriformis stretching whereas, group B (n=15) received 10 sessions of only neural mobilization and piriformis stretching for five sessions per week, in two weeks.
Outcome Measures: Pain intensity was measured by NPRS, isometric strength of hip abductor and extensor strength was measured by HHD and functional status was measured by LEFS.
Results: The results of this study showed that there is statistically significant improvement in both the groups for pain intensity and functional status. But, hip abductor and extensor strength showed statistically significant improvement only in Group A (p<0.05). In between group analysis, results showed statistically significant (p<0.05) changes in terms of hip abductor strength and LEFS but, differences of NPRS and hip extensor strength were statistically insignificant (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The study demonstrated that hip abductor and extensor strengthening have an added efficacy in improving hip abductor strength and functional status when combined with neural mobilisation and piriformis stretching exercises.
Key words: Piriformis syndrome, Neural mobilization, Piriformis stretching.