Purpose

Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) hip arthroscopy (HA) often results in postoperative muscle weakness and neuroplastic alterations within motor cortices and corticospinal tract pathways. A significant challenge in postoperative recovery is the patient’s difficulty in reactivating the affected muscle groups, a phenomenon termed arthrogenic muscle inhibition (AMI). Neurofeedback visualization training (NFVT) utilizes a brain-computer interface, presenting a non-invasive method that may facilitate muscle reactivation by mitigating the inhibition of neural corticospinal pathways. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of NFVT in enhancing muscle activation following FAI HA.

Materials And Methods

This randomized, single-masked, control trial involves 60 patients, divided equally between an intervention group and a control group. Both groups will follow identical physical therapy rehabilitation protocols, with the intervention group receiving additional NFVT sessions (iBrainTech™) twice weekly for 20 minutes over an 8-week period postoperatively. Key outcome measures include range of motion (ROM), peak torque (assessed via dynamometer), muscle activity (measured by surface EMG), and proprioception/balance. Assessments will be conducted preoperatively and at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. Data will be analyzed using t-tests and ANOVA.

Results

We anticipate that the NFVT group will demonstrate faster recovery of muscle activation compared to the control group. Specifically, improvements in ROM, peak torque, muscle activity, and balance are expected to reach both clinical and statistical significance.

Conclusion

NFVT represents a promising, non-invasive rehabilitation approach that may accelerate neuromuscular recovery and reduce rehabilitation duration following FAI HA. This technique could potentially prevent the deterioration of neuromuscular pathways and improve overall postoperative outcomes.