Objective: This study aimed to clarify the characteristics of the patients who had hip osteoarthritis (hip OA) of more than K-L grade 3 and did not need total hip replacement (THR) two years after the diagnosis.Methods: Twenty-four patients who were followed up for at least 2 years were included and classified into surgical and non-surgical groups depending on the need for THR. Pain (rest pain, motion pain, gait pain), hip range of motion, performance tests (time up and go test (TUG), 10 m gait speed, 2-step test, one-leg standing time, chair standing-5 (CS-5)), and Japanese Orthopaedic Association Hip-Disease Evaluation Questionnaire (JHEQ) were evaluated at the initial visit.Results: Rest pain was significantly lower in non-surgical group compared to surgical group (p<0.01). JHEQ pain score (p<0.01), motor score (p=0.03), and mental health score (p<0.01) were significantly higher in non-surgery group than those in surgery group.Conclusion: Even if you have end-stage hip OA, those with low rest pain and a high JHEQ score at the time of initial diagnosis may be able to live for two years without undergoing surgery. In patients with hip OA of more than K-L grade 3, low rest pain and a high JHEQ score at the initial visit were associated with avoiding THR for two years.

Ankle exercises are useful for preventing deep vein thrombosis, as they increase venous blood flow velocity. The cause for the increased venous blood flow velocity during ankle exercises may be the skeletal-muscle pump, but the mechanism is not clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the dorsiflexion angle and gastrocnemius muscle contraction on venous blood flow velocity during ankle exercises and to investigate the mechanism of the increase in venous blood flow velocity. The blood flow velocity in the popliteal vein, ankle joint angle, and surface electromyographic activity of the gastrocnemius muscle were measured at rest and during ankle exercises in the prone position in young healthy volunteers. The significant increase in venous blood flow velocity was observed during dorsiflexion phase, max dorsiflexion and during planter flexion phase. The peak venous blood flow velocity was different in each subject and classified into four types. The correlations of venous blood velocity to ankle joint angle and with the surface electromyographic activity of the gastrocnemius muscle were not statistically significant. These findings suggest that venous blood flow velocity increases not only during plantar flexion and dorsiflexion.