Characterizing Radiographic Hip Anatomy and Relationship to Hip Range of Motion and Symptoms in National Hockey League (NHL) Players

Objectives: The objective of this study was to characterize the radiographic proximal femoral and acetabular anatomy for professional (NHL) hockey players, and to correlate with objective assessments of hip range-of-motion and current or prior hip symptoms / surgery. Methods: One hundred and eighteen hips in 59 professional hockey players with one NHL organization (mean age 24.2, range 18-36) underwent a history and physician examination by two independent orthopedic surgeons for direct flexion, adduction, abduction in extension and flexion, and internal and external rotation at 90 degrees of flexion. A history of current or previous groin / hip pain or prior hip and/or core muscle surgery was noted. Well-positioned anteroposterior (AP) pelvis and bilateral Dunn lateral radiographs were obtained for all players with measurements performed independently by two-fellowship trained, hip preservation surgeons to assess acetabular and proximal femoral morphology. Statistical analysis was performed with linear regression models, Pearson and Spearman correlations, as well as intra-class correlation coefficients to assess inter-rater reliability, with p