How Can Gait Analysis Improve Total Hip Arthroplasty?

Hip osteoarthritis (OA), or the degeneration of cartilage in the hip joint, is a common and chronic condition that is growing in prevalence around the world. OA typically causes significant joint pain, lack of mobility, and abnormal gait patterns in affected individuals. Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is used to treat OA, and of the many postoperative methods of assessing success of the procedure, one that is particularly useful is gait analysis. Gait analysis provides a quantitative view of patient gait biomechanics by examining many relevant gait parameters and is very useful to evaluate sequelae following THA. The present paper synthesizes the recent literature surrounding post-THA gait analysis to gain a deeper understanding of how gait analysis may be used to improve THA and its corresponding patient outcomes.