Stable Supportive Footwear for Self-managing Hip Osteoarthritis Pain

BACKGROUND: Few effective nonsurgical treatments exist for hip osteoarthritis. Footwear influences hip forces and may be a promising novel approach. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether stable supportive shoes are more effective than flat flexible shoes for hip pain. DESIGN: 2-group, pragmatic, comparative effectiveness, superiority randomized trial. (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12621001532897). SETTING: Community. PARTICIPANTS: 120 people with hip osteoarthritis pain. INTERVENTION: = 60) shoes that met prespecified criteria. Participants chose from options in their randomly assigned shoe group and were instructed to wear selected shoes at least 6 hours per day for 6 months. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was 6-month change in average hip pain on walking in the previous week (11-point scale; range, 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating worse pain). Secondary outcomes included other measures of pain, symptoms, function in daily living, function in sport and recreation, quality of life, physical activity, global improvement, and adverse events. RESULTS: = 18 [31%]; relative risk, 0.39 [CI, 0.18 to 0.86]). LIMITATION: Unblinded participants. CONCLUSION: Stable supportive shoes were not superior to flat flexible shoes for improving hip osteoarthritis pain while walking. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: National Health and Medical Research Council.