Muscle strength testing following surgery for acetabular fractures.

A retrospective clinical analysis was performed on 30 patients who underwent surgery for acetabular fractures. In addition to clinical and radiographic evaluations, muscle strength was tested using an isokinetic dynamometer. Average follow-up time was 21 months. Joint surface and congruency were restored within 3 mm in 29 of 30 cases. The average hip score was 83. Eight patients had an unsatisfactory result. Only 14 patients had a normal gait, while seven patients had a Trendelenburg gait. The overall strength deficit was 27%. This mean strength deficit was highly correlated with the hip-rating score. The greatest loss of strength was in abduction, where the average deficit was 50%. The loss of abduction strength was significantly greater for patients operated on through posterior approaches. Among patients operated on through a Kocher-Langenbeck approach, those with transverse fractures had significantly larger losses of abduction strength than those with posterior wall fractures.