Anders Brekke & Josefine Naili: Acetabular Retroversion, pelvic tilt, femoroacetabular impingement and physical therapy interventions

This week I have two guests; I welcome Anders Falk Brekke, who is a registered physical therapist and PhD, affiliated with the Department of Physiotherapy at University College Absalon, Region of Zealand, Denmark, the Orthopaedic Research Unit, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark and the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Odense University Hospital, Denmark. Josefine E. Naili is also a registered physiotherapist and PhD associate professor of physiotherapy. Currently conducting research at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health and working clinically in the Motion Analysis Lab at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden.They both have extensive research interests, including evaluating the impact of musculoskeletal disease and injury on movement and gait patterns. We talk about the mechanics of gait and the prevalence of Increased anterior pelvic tilt in patients with acetabular retroversion compared to the general population. We discuss acetabular retroversion, how it affects hip function, its typical symptoms, and clinical presentation and radiographic evaluation. We talk about the lack of evidence to support non-surgical treatments to change excessive anterior pelvic tilt in both symptomatic and asymptomatic adults and their efforts to prove the feasibility of an intervention consisting of an exercise program  to change this We end with a discussion of a paper they published in February 2023, which discusses the changes in functional biomechanics following a targeted exercise intervention for patients with acetabular retroversion and femoroacetabular impingement syndrome. They discuss how the intervention showed changes in the range of motion flexion and reduced anterior pelvic tilt; however, it did not change gait biomechanics or patient-reported pain. We discuss patient adherence and its importance in any physical therapy program and discuss future research in the field, among other things.