Minimally invasive arthroscopic treatment of gluteus contracture

Gluteus contracture is a disease caused by fibrosis of the gluteus muscle and its fascia, resulting in abduction and external rotation deformity and flexion disorders of the hip joint. The formation of gluteus contracture is related to a variety of factors, most notably injectable gluteus contracture, which mostly occurs in infants or preschool children with repeated intramuscular injections of penicillin with benzyl alcohol soluble medium. As the muscles at the injection site are stimulated by the drug, fibrous scarring of the muscle tissue occurs, which can accumulate to the full depth of the muscle, thus causing the corresponding clinical symptoms. The typical clinical manifestations of gluteus contracture are: abnormal walking posture, especially the legs swinging outward when running, in addition to limited hip flexion due to muscle scarring and atrophy, and small stride length, as if jumping forward; when the patient stands, the lower limbs cannot be completely close together and are mildly externally rotated, due to the contracture of the upper gluteus maximus muscle, the muscle volume is reduced, which relatively reveals the sharp shape of the hip; when sitting, the knees are separated In the sitting position, the knees are separated and cannot be brought together, and the legs cannot be crossed; in the squatting position, there are two kinds of signs: some patients show that in the process of squatting, hip flexion is limited and they cannot squat completely, and at this time, the knees can be brought together and squat completely after the knees are arced outward. The other part of the patient shows that when squatting, both hips are abducted and externally rotated, both knees are separated, and the symptoms are like the hind limbs of a frog flexing, the former sign is called “circle sign” and the latter is called “frog leg sign”. These two different clinical manifestations are due to the different degree and extent of lesions. The latter lesion is often more severe and extensive than the former. In some patients, when the hip joint is flexed and extended, a popping sound can be produced and an oblique sclerotic band can be palpated at the hip. In some cases, the knee of the upper leg does not reach the bed when sleeping on the side; in severe cases, there may be hunchback, skewed body, pelvic tilt, scoliosis, and long and short legs (the two legs are not the same length). Depending on the patient’s symptoms and signs, different treatment measures can be taken. In principle, once hip contracture is diagnosed, it should be treated as soon as possible. Hip contracture not only affects the aesthetics and quality of life, but most importantly, prolonged hip contracture can cause serious complications by limiting the movement of the hip joint. For patients without obvious knee and hip dysfunction, the main symptom is that they can’t stilt their legs, they can first try non-surgical treatment, the main methods are: massage, the patient bends the knee and lies on the side, passive strong pressure on the outside of the knee, so that the femur is retracted; squatting exercise with knees together; standing with feet apart, doing hip flexion, knee flexion, knee together, and downward pressure on the outside of the knee. The patient should stand with both feet apart and do hip flexion, knee flexion, knee compression and downward pressure on the lateral side of the knee. For patients who cannot be relieved by functional exercise and physical therapy and who desire treatment and have significant symptoms of hip contracture, surgical release should be performed. Traditional surgery is open surgery, mostly using “S”, “Z” or curved incision, although it can achieve the purpose of treatment for gluteus contracture, but the disadvantages of this surgery are also very significant: large trauma, bleeding, slow recovery, long hospital stay, obvious surgical scar, etc, The disadvantages of this surgical method are significant: large trauma, bleeding, slow recovery, long hospital stay, and obvious surgical scar. Arthroscopic tissue release for gluteus contracture has become the main method of surgical treatment for gluteus contracture. Compared with traditional open surgery, arthroscopic tissue release for gluteus contracture has obvious advantages in terms of aesthetic incision length, postoperative pain, postoperative bed activity time, early functional exercise, postoperative hospital stay, postoperative complications, etc. Arthroscopic plasma radiofrequency treatment of gluteus contracture is performed with two small incisions of only about 8 mm. The sciatic nerve, the superior and inferior gluteal nerves and the greater trochanter are marked out before the operation to prevent accidental injury to the nerves during the operation. At the same time, the plasma knife is used to cut the contracted and degenerated fibrous band in the gluteus muscle, which only generates slight heat to the adjacent tissues and does not cause thermal burns and no heat radiation damage to the surrounding soft tissues. Postoperative functional recovery of arthroscopic surgery: postoperative lap band with pressure, both lower limbs were fixed with knees together, 24 hours later, knees together with hip flexion and knee flexion position, 24-48 hours after drainage tape was removed, functional exercises in bed were started, the main movements were slightly abduction of both hips while repeatedly trying to do internal and external rotation of hip, extension of knees and hip in flat position, flexion of knees and hip after trying to cross legs, alternating between legs, knees together with knees and hip flexion while holding hands on knees. Four days after the operation, we walked “cat walk” on the flat ground; in a sitting position, we extended the knee and crossed the leg and bent the knee into “two-legged”, alternating between the two sides; we grabbed the handrail with both hands and extended the knee and bent the knee and hip, repeatedly; we walked up and down the stairs in a straight line. 12~14 days to remove the stitches. The functional exercise lasted for 6~8 weeks.