Sports participation and risk of hip osteoarthritis: A critical review of the literature

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012, 2015, All Rights Reserved. Sports provide physical, psychological, and social well-being to individuals. However, some researchers have suggested a potentially damaging effect on hip articular cartilage with mid- and long-term exposure to sports. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive and critical review of the existing studies investigating the relationship between sports and the risk of hip osteoarthritis. This review demonstrates that despite there is some evidence that sports increases the risk of hip osteoarthritis, many studies have not controlled for some of the important risk factors for hip osteoarthritis. In fact, when only considering studies controlling for many associated risk factors in the risk analysis, most studies found that sports did not increase the risk of hip osteoarthritis. Therefore, it cannot be clearly concluded that sports itself increases the risk of degenerative joint disease in the hip when other risk factors are controlled for. Sports can be generally recommended to all patients, but special care must be taken in those with associated risk factors.