The significance of the Trendelenburg test

Abstract

Trendelenburg's Siga Fig. I These drawings demonstrate what Trendelenburg described as a positive and negative sign. Note that both hands are held by an assistant and the alignment of the pelvis with respect to the ground is observed.

Does Ultrasound Correlate with Surgical or Histologic Findings in Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome? A Pilot Study

“…The Trendelenburg sign is widely used clinically and in research to assess hip function. However, pain and poor balance have been identified as confounders of this test [19]; we used dynamometry to confirm the results of the Trendelenburg test. * Patients were ranked by the difference between recalled preoperative and postoperative pain; all but two patients had a clinically significant improvement in pain levels (p = 0.0002) [6]; HHS = Harris hip score; ODI = Oswestry Disability Index.…”

“…In the absence of a disease-specific tool, we used the HHS, validated for hip arthritis, and the ODI, validated for low back and leg pain. We also used the Trendelenburg test, which has limitations as mentioned above [19]. The functional tests developed and used by Lequesne et al [31] included a pain-dependent single-leg stance test (not the Trendelenburg test), providing a sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 97.3%, respectively, for tendon tear confirmed at surgery.…”

“…After this, the results of the best of three tests were recorded [5]. Additionally, gluteal strength was assessed via the Trendelenburg sign using the protocol of Hardcastle and Nade [19]. The patient stood on the affected leg, the other leg lifted to 90°hip flexion and the pelvis held level, with shoulders aligned over the pelvis, and the position maintained for a maximum of 30 seconds.…”

A comparison of three lateral approaches in primary total hip replacement

“…Using Wejkner's criteria [46], the percentages of good to excellent results were 96%, 95% and 95%. No significant differences were found between the approaches in abductor efficiency using the standardised Trendelenburg test [17] (Table 2). Differences in prosthetic alignment are shown in Table 3.…”

Outcome of Chiari pelvic osteotomy in adults: 90 hips with 2-15 years' follow-up

“…Clinical examination was performed by means of Merle d'AubignC hip rating (1970) and the Trendelenburg sign, according to Hardcastle and Nade (1985). On the radiographs, the same parameters were measured as on the preoperative radiographs (Table 2).…”