Motor control exercises were not superior to general exercises for women with greater trochanteric pain syndrome: A randomized controlled trial.

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome, a common cause of hip pain in women, is often treated with exercise, but which type of exercise program works better has not been clear. This trial compared a motor control protocol, which emphasized isometric and isotonic strengthening combined with neuromuscular training for dynamic control of the legs, against a general exercise protocol focused on warm-up, stretching, and strengthening of the trunk, hip, and lower limb muscles. Both groups trained twice weekly for 8 weeks under supervision, and outcomes were tracked out to 60 weeks. Neither pain intensity nor any of the secondary outcomes, including strength, pain catastrophizing, fear of movement, central sensitization, or quality of life, showed a meaningful difference between the two approaches at either time point.

This is a notable finding because it suggests that a more specific, control-oriented training approach did not outperform a simpler general exercise program. The main limitation is that this was a single trial with sixty participants, so the results describe this study's population and cannot rule out smaller differences that a larger trial might detect.

If you have hip pain from greater trochanteric pain syndrome, you may wonder whether a specific type of exercise program works better than a more general one. This study compared two supervised exercise programs in women with this condition: one built around motor control and coordination training for the legs, and another focused on general strengthening, stretching, and warm-up exercises for the hip, trunk, and legs.

Both groups did the same amount of supervised training over eight weeks. The result was that neither program clearly outperformed the other. Pain levels were similar between groups at both the 8-week and 60-week check-ins, and other measures like strength, movement-related fear, and quality of life also showed no meaningful differences.

This doesn't mean exercise doesn't help, both groups may have improved over time, but it does mean this particular study found no evidence that the more specialized motor control approach added extra benefit over general exercise. Because this was one trial with sixty women, the findings reflect this specific group and don't rule out the possibility that other differences could emerge in larger studies.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

This single-blind randomized controlled trial with concealed allocation, intention-to-treat analysis, and assessor blinding enrolled 60 women with greater trochanteric pain syndrome, comparing a motor control exercise protocol against a general exercise protocol, each delivered over 8 weeks in supervised 50 to 60 minute sessions twice weekly, with follow-up to 60 weeks. The primary outcome, average pain intensity, showed no significant Time by Group interaction at 8 weeks (mean difference -0.06, 95% CI -1.41 to 1.29, p=0.92, effect size 0.02) or at 60 weeks (mean difference -0.75, 95% CI -2.35 to 0.83, p=0.34, effect size 0.24). Secondary outcomes, including isometric strength, pain catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, central sensitization, and quality of life, similarly showed no between-group differences.

These are between-group comparisons and do not establish whether either group improved from baseline in absolute terms, as within-group change data are not reported in the abstract. The trial's sample size of 60 limits precision, particularly for the wider confidence interval seen at 60 weeks, and no adverse event data were reported. Overall, this single trial provides no evidence that motor control exercises are superior to general exercise for this population, though it cannot exclude smaller effects undetectable with this sample size.