A 5-year prospective study of non-surgical treatment of retro-trochanteric pain.

Diffuse retro-trochanteric pain occasionally radiating to the lower extremity could be caused by the piriformis or internal obturator muscle syndromes. Thirteen patients, with retro-trochanteric pain were included in the study. All patients suffered from a diffuse, but intense and often radiating hip pain. The median duration of the symptoms was 8 (1-20) years. The patients were treated by a specific supervised stretching programme with special emphasis on the internal obturator muscle. The duration of the stretching programme was 4 weeks. At inclusion, the median pain on the visual analogue scale (VAS) was 6.0 (3-7). The VAS for pain decreased to 4.0 (0-7) (p = 0.01) at 12 weeks. Five years after treatment, the VAS for pain was still significantly lower than at inclusion, 4.0 (0-7) (p = 0.018). A significant reduction in the number of positive Freiberg's tests and in the number of patients limping was also observed, both at 3 months and at 5 years after treatment. It appears that a supervised stretching programme renders significant short and long term decrease in symptom for patients with retro-trochanteric pain.