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. 2014 Mar;6(2):122-7.
doi: 10.1177/1941738114523381.

The running athlete: stress fractures, osteitis pubis, and snapping hips

Affiliations

The running athlete: stress fractures, osteitis pubis, and snapping hips

P Troy Henning. Sports Health. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Context: Pelvic stress fractures, osteitis pubis, and snapping hip syndrome account for a portion of the overuse injuries that can occur in the running athlete.

Evidence acquisition: PUBMED SEARCHES WERE PERFORMED FOR EACH ENTITY USING THE FOLLOWING KEYWORDS: snapping hip syndrome, coxa sultans, pelvic stress fracture, and osteitis pubis from 2008 to 2013. Topic reviews, case reports, case series, and randomized trials were included for review.

Study design: Clinical review.

Level of evidence: Level 4.

Results: Collectively, 188 articles were identified. Of these, 58 were included in this review.

Conclusion: Based on the available evidence, the majority of these overuse injuries can be managed non-operatively. Primary treatment should include removal from offending activity, normalizing regional muscle strength/length imbalances and nutritional deficiencies, and mitigating training errors through proper education of the athlete and training staff.

Strength of recommendation taxonomy: C.

Keywords: coxa sultans; osteitis pubis; snapping hip; stress fracture.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author reports no potential conflicts of interest in the development and publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Femoral neck stress fracture zones. Anteroposterior radiograph of normal hip. Yellow arrow, tension side; red arrow, compression side.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Ischiofemoral space. Hip magnetic resonance image, axial T1-weighted image. Red line, measurement of the ischiofemoral space; top, anterior; bottom, posterior; right, left; left, right.

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