This section has been prepared by Assoc. Prof. Amir Takla, who has developed, taught, tested, and published these rehabilitation methods. He is an integral part of HAA.

Over the past two decades, post-operative rehabilitation programs for patients undergoing hip surgery have changed significantly. Hip pathologies have been increasingly recognised and assessed more accurately thanks to advancements in hip arthroscopy, and this has led to the development of more specific and focussed rehabilitation programs.

The Takla-O’Donnell Protocol (TOD) provides a system that has instructions to the patient regarding pre- and postsurgical gait aids, detailed exercises for strengthening the deep hip muscles to ensure coordinated local muscular control, followed by global retraining and strengthening. The TOD protocol provides a systematic approach that physiotherapists could utilise to guide, monitor and advance patients in the post-operative processes following hip arthroscopy.

The FAIR trial, a randomised controlled trial (RCT), utilised the TOD protocol, and it concluded that patients undergoing this specific structured physiotherapy rehabilitation program, returned to activity significantly faster than patients who had a standard exercise program. To date, this is the only physiotherapy rehabilitation program that has been tested.