Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term outcome of physiotherapy in patients with acetabular labral tears and to assess the effectiveness of physiotherapy according to the severity of the labral tear.
Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients who underwent physiotherapy for treatment of symptomatic acetabular labral tears were enrolled. We evaluated the severity of the acetabular labral tears, which were classified based on the Czerny classification system using 3-T MRI. Clinical findings of microinstability and extra-articular pathologies of the hip joint were also examined. The International Hip Outcome Tool 12 (iHOT12) was use for evaluation of outcome scores pre- and post-intervention.
Results: The mean iHOT12 score showed significant improvement from 44.0 to 73.6 in 4.7 months. Compared with pre-intervention scores, significantly higher post-intervention iHOT12 scores were observed for Czerny stages I and II tears (all P<0.01). However, no significant difference was observed between pre-intervention and post-intervention iHOT12 scores for stage III tears (P=0.061). In addition, seven patients (20.0%) had positive microinstability findings and 22 patients (62.9%) had findings of extra-articular pathologies. Of the 35 patients, eight patients (22.9%) underwent surgical treatment after failure of conservative management; four of these patients had Czerny stage III tears.
Conclusion: The iHOT12 score of patients with acetabular labral tears was significantly improved by physiotherapy in the short-term period. Improvement of the clinical score by physiotherapy may be poor in patients with severe acetabular labral tears. Determining the severity of acetabular labral tears can be useful in determining treatment strategies.

The Smith-Petersen anterior approach and the Watson-Jones anterolateral approach are the two most renowned anterior approaches for hip surgery. The anterior approach offers several advantages, including a reduced dislocation risk as compared with that associated with the posterior approach. The post-operative dislocation rate after total hip arthroplasty is known to be 2~3 times lower than that of the posterior approach. However, a more extensive skin incision and poor anatomical visualization are some of the disadvantages of the anterior approach. Nevertheless, since this approach preserves the circulation to the femoral head, the ability to perform the anterior approach is imperative for hip surgeons.