Research summary · Recovery and rehabilitation
Return to flexibility sports after hip arthroscopy: encouraging but observational evidence
Seven retrospective studies covered 440 dancers and flexibility-sport athletes, representing 460 operated hips. Mean follow-up ranged from 23 to 79.1 months; researchers examined patient-reported outcomes, return to sport and repeat surgery.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Systematic review of retrospective studies
- Journal
- Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation
- Population / context
- Dance · Flexibility sports · Hip rehabilitation
What the publication reports
All included studies reported improvements in patient-reported outcomes. Return-to-sport rates ranged from 75.6% to 97%, and revision arthroscopy rates from 0% to 9.8%. These ranges describe selected surgical cohorts rather than a guaranteed individual recovery pathway.
Limits and interpretation
Retrospective designs, heterogeneous follow-up and predominantly female samples constrain inference. Without randomized comparisons, the review cannot establish surgery's superiority over rehabilitation alone; return to sport need not mean return to previous performance.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Improvement in Patient-Reported Outcomes, High Rate of Return to Sport, and Secondary Surgery Rate Ranging From 0% to 9.8% After Hip Arthroscopy in Dancers and Athletes in Flexibility Sports: A Systematic Review
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 42500161DOI: 10.1002/ars2.70020Full text at the sourceReader discussion
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