A Comparison of Two Exercise Programs on Knee Motor Control

University of Melbourne

Status and phase

Completed

Phase 2

Conditions

Patellofemoral Pain

Knee Pain

Treatments

Behavioral: Motor control retraining program

Behavioral: Quadriceps strengthening program

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00662493

020077

Details and patient eligibility

About

Pain at the front of the knee is a common condition treated by physical therapists. Treatment may consist of generalised strengthening exercises directed at the quadriceps muscle or specific retraining aimed at restoring motor control at the knee. This study compared these two exercise programs in a group of people who were painfree at the time to evaluate their effect on motor control. It was hypothesised that only the motor retraining program would influence motor control at the knee.

Enrollment

60 patients

Sex

All

Ages

16 to 40 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

aged between 16-40 years, with the upper age limit to reduce the likelihood of osteoarthritic changes in the patellofemoral joint
a self-reported history of anterior or retropatellar knee pain with insidious onset of symptoms and with at least one episode of pain in the past 12 months where pain was aggravated by at least two of the following: prolonged sitting, stairs, squat, running, kneeling and hopping/jumping
currently asymptomatic for at least 8 weeks prior to assessment
delay in the onset of VMO EMG relative to that of VL of greater than 10 ms during either the ascent or descent of a stair stepping task

Exclusion criteria

current knee pain
history of knee surgery or other knee injury in previous 12 months
physiotherapy treatment for knee pain in the past 12 months
history of patellar dislocation/subluxation
clinical evidence of meniscal lesion, ligamentous instability, traction apophysitis around the patellofemoral complex, patellar tendon pathology, chondral damage, osteoarthritis and spinal referred pain
current lower limb pathology affecting their ability to satisfactorily complete the testing or exercise protocol
current use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory or corticosteroid drugs
inability to communicate and comprehend written or verbal instructions in English