Thigh pain after arthroplasty first was identified in the joint replacement literature in 1988; little information has been published about the functional status of patients who develop this complication. Eleven patients who reported thigh pain at 2 years after cementless primary total hip arthroplasty were matched with patients who did not report thigh pain on the following characteristics: age, gender, diagnosis, bone type, and surgical procedure (ie, unilateral or bilateral). Preoperative WOMAC function scores were different in these two groups (53.5 versus 39.7). There were no differences in SF-36 and Quality of Well Being scores in the two patient groups. There were also no differences in the WOMAC, SF-36, and Quality of Well Being scores at the 2-year followup. However, item analysis of the WOMAC indicated that patients with thigh pain were more likely to report at least some functional deficit relative to patients without thigh pain at the 2-year followup. Thigh pain does not seem to affect 2-year postoperative quality of life severely in patients who have had cementless hip arthroplasties with a tapered stem design. Selected functional activities will be impacted by the presence of thigh pain.
Level of evidence: Prognostic study, Level III (case-control study). See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.