Hip
Non-arthritic hip pain
Hip and groin pain in a younger adult without established arthritis is assessed with hip-specific outcome measures designed for that population, because arthritis-oriented instruments ceiling out in patients who are otherwise functioning well.
What you are actually deciding
Measure acetabular coverage and femoral head-neck morphology on radiographs before attributing symptoms to either impingement or dysplasia — the two coexist more often than either is found alone, and treating one while missing the other is a common cause of failed hip arthroscopy.
Patient-reported outcome measure2
- HOOS Calculator40 itemsHip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome ScoreThe HOOS is a 40-item patient-reported questionnaire that scores hip function as five separate subscales — Symptoms, Pain, Activities of Daily Living, Sport and Recreation, and Hip-related Quality of Life — each from 0 (extreme problems) to 100 (no problems).
- LEFS Calculator20 itemsLower Extremity Functional ScaleThe LEFS is a 20-item patient-reported questionnaire that measures difficulty with everyday lower limb activities on a single 0 to 80 scale, where 80 indicates no difficulty and a change of 9 points is the smallest difference patients reliably notice.
Clinical calculator1
Thresholds that apply here
Published change thresholds across the instruments above. Check the population matches your patient before using a value — a threshold derived in a different cohort will mislead you.
| Instrument | Type | Value | Subscale | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOOS | MCID | 10 points | All subscales | Total hip arthroplasty |
| HOOS | MCID | ~9 points | Pain | Hip osteoarthritis, non-surgical |
| HOOS | PASS | ~73 points | Pain | Hip arthroscopy for FAI |
| HOOS | MDC | 10–16 points | Varies by subscale | Hip osteoarthritis |
| LEFS | MCID | 9 points | — | Adults with lower limb musculoskeletal dysfunction |
| LEFS | MDC | 9 points (90% confidence) | — | Adults with lower limb musculoskeletal dysfunction |
| LEFS | MCID | 9 points | — | Knee osteoarthritis and post-arthroplasty |
See the full threshold database for every instrument on the site.