THURSDAY, July 30, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For individuals with hip osteoarthritis, exercise produces small improvements in pain and physical function, but these improvements may not be clinically meaningful, according to a review published online July 22 in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Michelle Hall, Ph.D., from the University of Sydney, and colleagues examined the effects of exercise, including pain, physical function, quality of life, and participant-reported treatment success, in a review and meta-analysis of individuals with hip osteoarthritis.
Eighteen studies, with 1,368 participants, were included. The researchers found that compared with attention control/placebo, exercise may have little to no effect on pain. Physical function may be slightly improved by exercise. Neither quality of life nor participant-reported treatment success was reported in any studies. Exercise may increase adverse event risk, but the evidence was very uncertain. Compared with no treatment/usual care/limited education, exercise appeared to reduce pain slightly and probably slightly improved physical function; these improvements were unlikely to be clinically meaningful. Compared with a co-intervention alone, exercise plus a co-intervention appeared to little to no effect on pain, physical function, or quality of life and appeared to have little to no effect on participant-reported treatment success.
"Exercise is recommended as a primary treatment for hip osteoarthritis, and this review doesn't overturn that," Hall said in a statement. "But it does suggest we should be honest with patients that the average benefit may be modest, and that we need better-designed trials to understand who benefits most and from which type of exercise."
