股関節疾患における関連痛に関する臨床的検討

抄録

   Hip joint associated pain is known to distribute widely in affected thigh or lower leg and generally not restricted in hip joint area.However detail feature of hip joint associated referred pain is not sufficiently clarified. Therefore the aim of this study is to characterize the types of distribution of hip joint related pain and to give our opinion about underlying neurophysiological mechanisms of hip joint referred pain. Of 36 severe osteo-arthritis joints, 83% of the joints showed remote pain area and 18% of the joints showed pain restricted only in inguinal area. Fourteen percent of the joints had far remote pain in lower leg area. L5 root block study was conducted in 7 cases. In all cases remote referred pains were attenuated at least 2 or 3 days and long lasting pain improvement was achieved in one case. These results suggest that referred pain observed in severe hip osteoarthritis cases may initially triggered by hip joint itself but prolonged referred muscle pain may become a possible generator for triggering and maintaining of mal-pain circuit.